I have a real love for narratives around healers or doctors from various times in history–The Surgeon's Daughter, The Red Tent, the Earth's Children series… I'm struggling to think of more. I would adore some more suggestions around this line. Gender of the protagonist and the time period are immaterial to me but I have a particular love for ancient history. Thanks!
by radziadax
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Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
The Nurse’s Secret by Amanda Skenandore
The Physician by Noah Gordon is fantastic!
I also really enjoyed Frozen River.
I read one of Ken Follett’s books in the Pillars of the Earth series in which one of the characters is a nun/nurse trying to care for people during the plague. Those are all so epic and satisfying.
Arrowsmith by Lewis
The Citadel by Cronin (a doctor, himself)
Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series MC is first a nurse, then a wise woman, at some point a surgeon but also a time traveler
Mistress of the Art of Death and sequels by Diana Norman.
The Hummingbird’s Daughter
for psych, determined, stay, and the noonday demon go into pretty good detail
The Cape Doctor by E.J. Levy is based on the true story of an early 19th century woman who lived her life as a man so she could study and practice medicine.
Are you looking for fiction or nonfiction?
The Birth House by Amy McKay. Nova Scotia Canada, late 1800s-ish.
The Heart Specialist, by Claire Holden. Fictionalised novel about one of the first female doctors trained in Montreal, Canada (not a real person, but based closely on some real folks).
The Midwife of Venice, by Roberta Rich. Renaissance era. There’s a sequel which I haven’t read.
If you’re open to fantasy and a dash of magic … Juliette Marillier’s Dreamers Pool (the start of the Blackthorn and Grim series) stars a healer who was imprisoned by a cruel ruler in Druidic Ireland … she’s jailbroken by mischievous Fey … and she settles in a cottage to become a village hedgewitch/healer and problem-solver with her former next-door-cell-neighbour helping her out. The historical setting is researched well, and I really enjoy the way this author writes characters and their motivations. But, it may not be so much what you’re looking for. Also, lots of trauma in the protagonist’s life.
Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander series. Very well researched, one of the two main characters is a navy surgeon and also a physician.
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman (this is a YA/Children’s book, but the research and historical details are excellent. The author also wrote The Midwife’s Apprentice, which is a great book but has fewer medical details.)
Cutting for Stone and The Inheritance of Water by Abraham Verghese. He is a physician and writes beautifully!
Medical mysteries
https://www.stopyourekillingme.com/JobCats/Medicine.html