The Knife’s Edge

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What to expect

A TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2019

An intimate and compelling exploration into the unique psyche of the heart surgeon, by one of the profession’s most eminent figures.

Although Professor Stephen Westaby was born with the necessary coordination and manual dexterity, it was a head trauma sustained during university that gifted him the qualities of an exceptional heart surgeon: qualities that are frequently associated with psychopathy. His thirty-five-year career has been characterised by fearlessness and ruthless ambition; leaving empathy at the hospital door as thousands of patients put their lives in his hands.

For heart surgeons, the inevitable cost of failure is death and in The Knife’s Edge, Westaby reflects on the unique mindset of those who are drawn to this exhilarating and often tragic profession. We discover the pioneers who grasped opportunities and took chances to drive innovation and save lives. Often difficult, uninhibited and fearless, theirs is a field constantly threatened by the risk of public failure.

Like those before him, Westaby refuses to draw the line in his search of a lifetime solution to problems of the heart. His determination is unerring – a steadfastness underpinned by his unusual mind. But as we glimpse into the future of cardiac surgery, for all its remarkable scientific advancement, one question remains: within the confines of socialised medical healthcare systems, how can heart surgeons – individuals often hardwired with avoidance of self-doubt, a penchant for glory and a flagrant disregard for authority – truly flourish?

Critics Review

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u2018Wholly believableu2026 The book [has] an unmistakable feeling of authenticity.u2019 Daily Telegraph

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u2018What makes this memoir so readable is Westabyu2019s unexpected admissions of vulnerability.u2019 The Times, Book of the Week

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Praise for Fragile Lives:

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u2018Raw and movingu2026 the writing is thrilling. Fragile Lives is a frank and absorbing memoir by a man who has done about as much good to his fellow human beings as it is possible to do in one lifetime.u2019 u2013 The Times, Book of the Week

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u2018With his battle cry of u201cbugger protocolu201d and his renaming of medical directors as u201cthe Stasiu201d, Westaby comes across as the bloke youu2019d want on your side in the fight to stay alive.u2019 Guardian Books of the Year

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u2018The stakes could not be higher in this bloody, muscular and adrenaline-charged memoir from a pioneering heart surgeonu2026 at points it made my own heart race dangerously. u2018Surgeons are meant to be objective,u2019 Westaby tells himself, u2018not humanu2019. What makes this book so fascinating, and so moving, is the terrible tension between these necessary qualities.u2019 u2013 Sunday Times

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u2018A full-frontal and thrilling portrayal. Each story in this fascinating book brings a new nail-biting surgical adventureu2026 A gifted surgeon, Westaby is also a natural writeru2026 Fragile Lives succeeds on many levels: political battle cry, chronicle of bloody feats, history of modern cardiology, tribute to patients and paean to surgery.u2019 u2013 Daily Telegraph

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u2018The book is a cracking example of a thriving sub-genre of autobiography, the medical memoir. Anyone who enjoyed the 2014 bestseller Do No Harm by the brain surgeon Henry Marsh, a friend of Westabyu2019s, will relish Fragile Lives, too. Each story is gripping, written in a vivid, almost brutal way that matches the blood and gore of cardiac surgery.u2019 u2013 Financial Times

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