Dr Mutter's Marvels

Author: Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

Once you've actually had the chance to finish writing your own novel, and publish it, you really - and I mean really - appreciate the amount of hard work, time, thought, sacrifice and love that goes into finishing such an undertaking. Especially if that book is a work of non-fiction that has obviously been research to within an inch of its life by someone who truly love's their subject matter. 

Dr Mutter's Marvels is a wonderful account of the life of surgeon Dr Thomas Mutter, a daring and fantastic individual in the truest sense. Pioneering plastic surgery techniques in the USA, Mutter managed to transform the suffering of his dramatically afflicted patients into hope,  opening the door to 'normality' for those individuals who had previously been deemed nothing more than "monsters" unfortunate enough to be deformed by accident or birth.

Author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz paints a wondrous picture of the man's accomplishments, challenges, frustrations, triumphs and surgeries. Not for the faint of heart, her book goes into bone chilling detail, opening up the past and revealing what life was really like for doctors, surgeons and patients at the turn of the 19th Century, when the main anaesthetic available was wine!

Dr Mutter's Marvels is a fascinating, eye-opening read that I would highly recommend to anyone. Cristin's style is poetic as well as engaging and show's a passion for her subject that will not only insight admiration in her fellow authors and her audience, but I dare say also inspire them to take more joy in doing the things they love.

Read this if you like: Medical history, medical books, medical oddities, forensic science

Rated: 4.5 scoops out of a possible 5 flavours.