Dirty Work

A powerful, gripping novel that confronts one of the great contemporary taboos head-on. By the author of the brilliant Direct Red.

Surgeons are meant to save lives, but Nancy is a special kind of surgeon. When she makes a mistake in the operating theatre she is summoned to explain herself to a tribunal and is forced to consider what it means to be a doctor who has killed as well as cured.

Winner of the McKitterick Prize



Two women in a room.

‘Courageous’ Rachel Cusk, Guardian

One is dying.

‘Gripping’ Observer

The other just sits back and watches.

‘Necessary’ Independent

For both, there is everything to lose.

Surgeons are meant to save lives, but Nancy is a special kind of surgeon. When she makes a mistake in the operating theatre she is summoned to explain herself to a tribunal and is forced to consider what it means to be a doctor who has killed as well as cured. And to realise that her own redemption can only come through telling a tale that nobody wants to hear.

Gabriel Weston, author of the acclaimed Direct Red: A Surgeon’s Story, winner of the 2010 PEN/Ackerley Prize, has written an extraordinarily moving and powerful novel.