Sometimes in hospital people die - but not all of them should. A moving, addictive debut novel for readers of Going Under and Emotional Female.
'Emma, you'll be totally fine ... If there's ever a doctor who's going to thrive in surgical training, I'm sure it's you.'
Dedicated and ambitious, Emma Swann is about to start a gruelling year as a surgical registrar at the prestigious Mount teaching hospital. She's excited to join her adored older brother Andy in pursuing the same career as their father, an eminent surgeon who made his name at The Mount.
But the pressure of living up to his distinguished reputation is nothing compared with the escalating stress Emma experiences as a registrar. It's an arduous, unremitting slog of twenty-hour days, punishing schedules, life and death decisions - and very little assistance, instruction or support from her superiors, who waste no time pointing out just how superior they are. Amidst a background culture of humiliation and bullying, being a woman just makes things worse: misogyny is rife and Emma is subjected to other, more insidious, kinds of male attention.
As Emma battles overwork, exhaustion and increasing disillusion, she has less and less ability and time to care for her patients' welfare, and that of herself and those she loves. Is it possible for her to be the doctor, wife, sister and friend she aspires to be in such a broken hospital system? Can she salvage her own life while she's trying to save others? And how can she and her colleagues endure such impossible conditions without making fatal mistakes?
With the frenetic pace of a psychological thriller, The Registrar offers a rare insight into the world of a surgeon-in-the-making from one who has survived it. Told with compassion, skill and emotional heart, this gripping and moving novel goes behind the headlines to reveal the human experience of being both doctor and patient in a medical system at breaking point.
About the Author
Neela Janakiramanan is areconstructive plastic surgeon with particular expertise in complex hand and wrist surgery. She has wide experience working in the public and private health sector. She is a seasoned public speaker and advocate on issues including health equity, gender equity, and diversity and inclusion. She was also one of the medical leads in the Kids off Nauru campaign and in bringing together the Australian medical community and operationalising the Australian Medevac legislation to facilitate medical care for refugees in offshore detention. Neela is a regular contributor to?Women's Agenda, and has also written for The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Saturday Paper, and often appears on ABC's The Drum.
Industry Reviews
‘This is compelling. You won’t put it down. Shows how fiction can hold a mirror to reality— almost painfully real.’
Dr Norman Swan
‘In The Registrar, Neela Janakiramanan writes with a surgeon’s precision and a novelist’ssensibility. The result is a visceral and gut-wrenching tale of one doctor’s battle to maintain her humanity within a system hell-bent on destroying it. The writing is honest and unflinching and the characters, complex and believable. Like many doctors, I know this story, I’ve lived this story. Now, thanks to Neela Janakiramanan, the rest of Australia will know it too.’
Dr Melanie Cheng, author of Australia Day
‘The moving story of a woman, a family and a profession; an insider’s view of the good, the bad and the unacceptable in our hospital system that resonates for so many workplaces. A brilliant read from a brilliant woman. Neela Janakiramanan—surgeon, leader, advocate and now talented author.’
Kate Jenkins, Sex Discrimination Commissioner
‘So beautiful. A fitting tribute to our lives and work, and to those who we have lost.’
Dr Ruth Mitchell, neurosurgeon and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
‘Compelling, illuminating and utterly readable. A peek behind the curtain of medicine, quite unlike anything you’d see on Grey’s Anatomy. A brilliant debut. My brain told me I had to get back to my day job, but my heart wouldn’t let me put The Registrar down. A fast-paced and fearless novel. The Registrar is a wake-up call to the medical establishment. A heroic and high-wire feat of storytelling from inside a world most of us never get to see.’
Jamila Rizvi, author of Not Just Lucky
‘With knife-like precision, Dr Janakiramanan affords us an intimate view into what may lie behind a surgeon’s mask.’
Dr Leah Kaminsky, award-winning author of The Hollow Bones and The Waiting Room
