Breaking and Mending
A Junior Doctor’s Stories of Compassion and Burnout
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Breaking and Mending
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Narrated by:
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Joanna Cannon
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By:
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Joanna Cannon
About this listen
The unforgettable memoir from the best-selling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie.
A few years ago, I found myself in A&E. I had never felt so ill. I was mentally and physically broken. So fractured, I hadn't eaten properly or slept well or even changed my expression for months. I sat in a cubicle, behind paper-thin curtains, and I shook with the effort of not crying. I was an inch away from defeat...but I knew I had to carry on. Because I wasn't the patient. I was the doctor.
No sleep, skeleton support, a head full of anatomy lectures and idealism: this is life for our junior doctors in their first few years on the wards. Here, Joanna Cannon tells her own story in visceral, heart-rending snapshots.
We walk with her, facing extraordinary and daunting moments and meeting her patients: from attending her first postmortem, learning the overwhelming power of a well or badly chosen word and sitting with a young woman in her final hours to small sustaining acts of kindness and connection. These moments teach her that emotional care can be just as critical as restoring a heartbeat - and eventually lead her to her true home in psychiatry.
Deeply moving, warm, compassionate and beautifully written, Breaking and Mending shows us why we need to better care for mental health - and for those who care for us.
©2019 Joanna Cannon (P)2019 Hachette Audio UKListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Breaking and Mending
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mrs Hubby
- 10-10-19
Simply fantastic
Gives a great insight into the experiences and journey of the author. It offers lessons to anyone willing to listen, the one that I will be taking forward and sharing with students is “reading restores the possibility of hope”. Thanks for sharing your story.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Clive Smart
- 30-11-20
A very real and eloquent autobiographical journey
As a nursing student I really enjoyed this. A doctor being real, showing her thighs and lows through medical school and beyond. A lot I could relate to. Intense, eloquent and excellently narrated by the author herself (best way typically). As much about the patients as about herself and very real: breaking and mending, probably the only real way to become a real doctor and the very journey of us all.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- taltal
- 16-06-21
Moving
A heartfelt, authentic memoir from a former doctor sharing the highs and lows of working in the NHS told with insight and compassion.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Edie A
- 03-11-19
Honest and Courageous
An honest and courageous account of life as a junior doctor. In her own words, Joanna Cannon tells how finding her niche in psychiatry made her realise that everyone has a place, a thing they excel at. I particularly liked that she read the story herself, as it felt like listening to a friend.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sam
- 09-12-20
Motivational and inspiring
Absolutely wonderful. Could not put it down. Narration was also. Excellent. Telling and walking through the story as if it were me.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- RSN
- 17-12-21
A thoughtful and honest experience
I have just started medical school and downloaded this before I started. I read the blurb as one of those books you should read before you start medical school, so that you get a true idea of what you’re going into. The brutal honesty without romanticising what the profession is about was refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially as it was narrated by the author. It was thoughtful and emotional, and truly made me realise that there is hope to the NHS, and that if we could all channel the honesty to patient care that Dr Cannon has, there is hope in the future.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Rose Fleurbaay
- 06-06-23
Let down by narration
Firstly I have to say that I love love love Joanna Cannons other books, but I’m afraid, for me, her voice is too monotone and soporific , especially given the somewhat depressing nature of the story. Interesting to find out her back story but I would have liked it to conclude with why she became an author.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Rachel Badley
- 09-10-19
Interesting but depressing!
Funnily enough, didn't find the author brought it to life! But I suppose it's obviously how she felt it should be read. Lots of touching stories, some heartwarming, but overall didn't really feel it got anywhere, needed more of her "mending" as I was left feeling most was the issues and struggles and very little on the positives.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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- Rachel-Mary
- 24-01-22
Depressing
A shame the author read it herself as it detracted from a less than uplifting book
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Temitope Ajenifuja
- 05-11-19
Relatable
Could definitely relate with parts of this book.
Interesting ,the thoughts about death from depression/mental illness.
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2 people found this helpful