Description

“Heart-pounding. Soul-wrenching. A psychological thriller that dives into the dark beauty and madness of medicine. What a catharsis to see women bound by friendship and love and ambition peel away the layers of who they are at work. We see them bare their teeth and their souls. It is Big, Little Lies meets Grey’s Anatomy in this delicious and satisfying mystery about friendship, love, and why we choose the work we do. Christie Watson has written a masterpiece.”—Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved)

From the author of the smash UK bestseller The Language of Kindness comes an electrifying, high-stakes literary thriller following three best friends since medical school and the twenty-five-year-old secret that now threatens to shatter their lives.

When you're trained to protect the lives of others, how far will you go to protect your own?

Ruthlessly ambitious Olivia, anxious perfectionist Laura, and free-spirited risk-taker Anjali couldn’t be more different. Yet their friendship—which began the first day of medical school—has kept them inseparable these past twenty-five years. As wild all-nighters and exam pressure gave way to the struggles and joys of new motherhood and new jobs, their unbreakable bond helped them support each other through it all.

Long ago, they promised that nothing would come between them, and to do anything for one another—including burying that night they have never spoken about: a university party fueled by drugs, sex, and secrets that forced them to make a deadly choice that could have destroyed them. But is there a limit to what we would do for those we love?

When an eerily similar tragedy strikes involving the women’s teenaged children, everything the three friends have built threatens to crumble around them . . . forcing them to decide how far they can stretch their friendship before it snaps.

A taut and explosive novel about loyalty, ambition, betrayal, and revenge, Moral Injuries explores the sometimes-hidden costs of friendships, and the lengths people will go to protect themselves.

About the Author

Christie Watson is a Professor of Medical Humanities at University East Anglia and worked as a nurse with the National Health Service for over twenty years. She has written five books, including her first novel Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, which won the Costa First Novel Award, and a memoir, The Language of Kindness, which was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. She is a contributor to the Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph, and TEDx, and her work has been translated into twenty-three languages and adapted for theater. She lives in London.

Praise For…

"In her compulsively readable novel Christie Watson asks what happens when a crisis hits close to home." — Sunday Times (London)

“…propulsive…[Watson] shines in her portrayal of medicine as an imperfect blend of art, science, and emotion. Fans of medical fiction will admire this.” — Publishers Weekly

"Heart-pounding. Soul-wrenching. A psychological thriller that dives into the dark beauty and madness of medicine. What a catharsis to see women bound by friendship and love and ambition peel away the layers of who they are at work. We see them bare their teeth and their souls. It is Big, Little Lies meets Grey’s Anatomy in this delicious and satisfying mystery about friendship, love, and why we choose the work we do. Christie Watson has written a masterpiece."
—  Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved)

“Gripping, introspective, and packed with as much drama as a whole season of Grey's Anatomy.” — Booklist

"Heart-stopping, twisting, funny and frightening. Moral Injuries is by turns a rattling thriller, a soul-searching look at moral integrity, and a nuanced study of the binds of friendship, status and love." — Chris Whitaker, New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of We Begin At The End

"Watson is, unsurprisingly, brilliant on the reality of working in the NHS, and the strain and reality of the trio’s jobs (Olivia is a surgeon, Laura an air ambulance doctor, Anjali a GP) is brought to riveting life. She is also excellent on betrayal, female friendships and family, and what we might do to protect it. I was so caught up in it all I had to flick ahead to the end to calm myself down. I don’t recommend doing that – but I do recommend Moral Injuries." — The Observer (London)

"Moral Injuries takes the reader into a world where medicine meets morality, and every choice has a cost. With page-turning twists, it explores friendship, betrayal and the decisions that define us." — Nathan Filer, Sunday Times bestseller and Costa winning author of The Shock of the Fall

"This deep dive into professional ethics, which reads like an ITV thriller, Sunday nights, 9pm, is likely to leave the reader deeply unsettled, and perhaps never again willing to view healthcare professionals in quite the same light." — Independent (London)

"An exploration of moral ambiguity and what it really means to protect a life. Watson understands human flaws with empathy and insight. I’ve never read a novel before that combines such riveting accounts of frontline medicine, female friendship and family dynamics. Unique and compelling." — Elizabeth Day, bestselling author of Magpie

"The sins of the mothers are visited on the children in former nurse Watson’s superior medical thriller." — The Guardian

"Utterly incredible in every way. Watson writes with a precision and grace that is true literary perfection. I adored every page. Thrilling, pacy, hilarious, moving, so well-constructed - and the characters! I've not met such relatable, deftly hewn characters in an age. We rarely read mature female friendship done well (or at all), with all the complications of children—and no children--in the mix, but Moral Injuries captures those betrayals, compromises and transgressions we all are capable of as life goes on. This wonderful book is an impeccably wrought, sharp, shining, clever exploration of mature female friendship, as well as a taut and sizzling medical thriller." 
— Emma Jane Unsworth, Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize winning author of Animals

"No-one writes about the drama of medicine like Christie Watson; she takes her readers to the heart of hospital life with its pain and its beauty, its sadnesses and triumphs."  — Dr. Gavin Francis, Sunday Times bestselling author of Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence

"What an enthralling, gripping, deliciously dark and twisted read - full of suspense, intrigue, blood, guts, warmth, tenderness and the trademark gorgeousness of Christie Watson’s prose. Moral Injuries sweeps you into the life and death stakes of the hospital. An immersive, unforgettable gem." — Dr. Rachel Clarke, author of Dear Life

"Propulsive, funny and filled with suspense, Watson’s pacy thriller kept me turning the pages late into the right. You know you’re in the hands of an expert. A masterclass of its genre." — Sarah Langford, Sunday Times bestselling author of Rooted: Stories of Life, Land and a Farming Revolution

"An extraordinary book. Compelling and unsettling in equal measure - Christie Watson deftly weaves a tale that will linger long after you have put it down."  — John Sutherland, bestselling author of Blue

"Intelligent, propulsive and disturbing—I couldn't put it down. The ethical dilemmas at the center of the book will have readers asking themselves, again and again, what would I do?" —  Nikki Smith, author of All In Her Head

"A thoughtful examination of ambition, betrayal, moral obligation, and ethical grey areas" — The Guardian