Fiction Like Your Favorite Medical Dramas
Medical dramas are a big part of storytelling on TV, from Grey’s Anatomy to The Pitt. If you’re looking for a book that will also make your heart beat faster, there’s plenty to choose from across genres. In fiction, medical dramas can range from informative to downright gruesome and scary. And some authors may write under pen names because their day jobs are in the medical field! Start with this list of books that center around different parts of the medical field. Whether you need a high-stakes story, require an uplifting tale, or are looking for bedside humor filled with dad jokes, there is a book for you on this list. Get ready to dive into these books per the doctor’s order!
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Add to BookshelfDoctors and Friends
by Kimmery Martin
This novel follows a close group of friends who have been together since medical school. The three friends try to find stability as their worlds are upended by a devastating pandemic that locks down the world. Compton battles grief as an emergency doctor in New York City when death hits too close to home. Hannah, who is based in California, works as an ob/gyn, but now that she is ready to have her own baby, she is scared of the new world she is in. Kira is an infectious disease doctor and finds herself fighting the government’s talking heads, taking a toll on her. Written prior to COVID-19 by a former emergency medicine physician, Doctors and Friends shares a deeply relatable cast of characters who provoke both laughter and tears.
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$17.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Cutting for Stone
by Abraham Verghese
Are you ready to immerse yourself in a sweeping drama about the lives of twin brothers Marion and Shiva living in Ethiopia? Get your tissue boxes ready. Born from a secret union between a celebrated British doctor and a nun of Indian heritage, the twins have led extraordinary lives. On their journey, they recall losing their mother during childbirth. Following their birth, their father abandoned them. The abandoned siblings were left to be raised in the missionary hospital during the uprisings that occurred under Emperor Haile Selassie’s reign. Filled with detailed, medical jargon that will make you flinch, this is a must-have for anyone who loves dramatic, emotional storytelling.
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$20.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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The House of God
by Samuel Shem
Believe it or not, not all medical fiction is filled with heartbreaking narratives. Dive into this eye-opening, “raunchy and hilarious,” as The New York Times described, book that centers a group of aspiring doctors who go from rockstars in med school to barely praised first-year residents at their respective hospitals. From working brutal hours, to being considered the lowest tiers of medical professionals, these interns take to observational humor with each other and their patients that both medical professionals and non-medical professionals can appreciate. This book will bode well with readers who love television sitcoms such as Scrubs and Bojack Horseman.
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$24.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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At Least You Have Your Health
by Madi Sinha
What happens when a successful doctor has trouble finding the perfect work-life balance? Dr. Maya Rao has three children, a husband, and a booming career as a gynecologist. However, when a patient arrives at her city hospital, her once-pristine reputation is now questioned. This forces Rao to walk away from the hospital she’s worked at for so long and built her career. While out with her daughter, she meets a woman named Amelia DeGilles, who operates her own high-end wellness center. Amelia is in need of a gynecologist for her clientele, and she convinces Maya to join her team with promises of having access to wealthy clients.
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Joan Is Okay
by Weike Wang
Joan is a 30-something ICU doctor at a busy New York City hospital. The daughter of Chinese parents who came to the United States to secure the American dream for their children, Joan is intensely devoted to her work, happily solitary, successful. When Joan’s father suddenly dies and her mother returns to America to reconnect with her children, a series of events sends Joan spiraling out of her comfort zone just as her hospital, her city, and the world are forced to reckon with a health crisis more devastating than anyone could have imagined.
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72 Hour Hold
by Bebe Moore Campbell
While a lot of medical dramas explore long-term and terminal health causes, mental health topics are finding a wider audience of readers. Trina has recently turned 18, and she lives with bipolar depression. With her condition, she experiences violent mood swings and unpredictable bouts of paranoia. Her mother, Keri, is scared for her daughter as she feels she’s a threat to herself as well as others. Keri puts her daughter in a facility, but by law, they can release her after 72 hours. Once Trina is released, she fears her daughter will fall back into her old habits. Determined to save her daughter once again, she seeks a risky, alternative treatment that she may soon regret.
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$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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The Anatomy Lesson
by Nina Siegal
This is one for art lovers as well as those who enjoy their daily dose of medical storytelling. It’s 1632 in Amsterdam, and the surgeon’s guild has commissioned the famous Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn to create what is now known as his masterpiece, “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.” The story starts with a medical dissection in progress as the novel takes place over the course of one day. As the story builds to its dramatic conclusion, circumstances conspire to produce a famous painting — and an immortal painter.
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$16.95Buy from Other Retailers:
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The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of Mexico Gothic, reimagines H. G. Wells’ classic The Island of Doctor Moreau by adding her rich, yet bone-chilling prose on the backdrop of the Mayas seeking their freedom from the crooked politicians in Mexico. This book succeeds in incorporating historical events that occurred during the Mexican War while adding a speculative, blood-curdling element with its character Carlota, who suffers from a blood disorder. Her father, Dr. Moreau, is a mad scientist who is keeping her alive by injecting her with medicine to keep her from dying. But creating hybrid creatures tends to be expensive, and Dr. Moreau is running low on funds. When a wealthy man moves into town, Dr. Moreau decides to marry his sickly daughter.
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$18.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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The Night Watch
by Sarah Waters
Historical and war fiction lovers will embrace this hard-hitting novel. Packed with sentimental moments as well as events that will make you gasp, this book will tug at your heartstrings from the beginning until the end. You’ll be transported to 1940s London as you follow one man and four women and watch as their individual stories eventually connect. One woman is a former ambulance driver named Kay. She’s witnessed death and war, and now dresses as a man to protect herself. She wanders the streets looking and searching, but she’s not always sure what she is looking for. However, once the other people enter her life, nothing is ever the same.
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The Woman with the Cure
by Lynn Cullen
Based on the true events surrounding scientist Dorothy Horstmann, this is a literary treat for medical drama lovers. During the 1940s, polio ravaged the country, leaving many impacted by its devastating effects on those infected, especially children. Like many during that time, Horstmann’s scientific achievements and advancement in medicine were overlooked by her male peers. As the most brilliant scientists rushed to find a cure for polio, Horstmann, who was oftentimes the only woman in the room, began to analyze human blood as it relates to the disease. Readers will find themselves rooting for the unsung women in medical history.
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$19.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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The Doctor and the Diva
by Adrienne McDonnell
What is a medical drama without a little passion and romance? Set in early 19th-century America, a doctor, often referred to as Dr. Ravell, finds his calling by helping couples conceive. He’s been praised throughout Boston’s high society for his work ethic and ability to help those of wealth procreate. He meets Erika, a stunning opera singer who has tried for years to have children. After hiring Dr. Ravell, Erika can’t deny the sparks between them. But she is married, and he’s a respectable doctor. Eventually, they find themselves in a scandalous affair that travels with them from Boston to Trinidad and Italy.
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$22.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Butcher
by Joyce Carol Oates
This genre-blending horror and historical mystery will give you instant goosebumps. At the turn of the 19th century, many were fascinated by modern biology, looking to become doctors. While some had good intentions, a growing number of doctors used their medical profession to treat people recklessly. These people were known as butchers. One of these butchers went by the name of Dr. Silas Weir, who led his own gyno-psychiatry research. Told from the perspective of Dr. Weir’s son, this story highlights how a man exiled from his community lands a position as a leading doctor for a women’s asylum.
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Doctor Zhivago
by Boris Pasternak
Leading up to and during the Russian Revolution, this story follows a man named Doctor Zhivago, who also moonlights as a poet. He finds himself torn between his adulterous relationships as he tries to flee the ongoing conflicts surrounding him. As Russia continues to suffer under its current government that continues to release cruel and vicious tyranny on its countrymen, the doctor finds himself part of a star-crossed lovers’ charade that changes not just himself but everyone around him as well.
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A Gesture Life
by Chang-rae Lee
This book will land well for bibliophiles who enjoy complicated and character-driven stories. Doc Hata has lived many lives throughout his life. Now that he has entered his seasoned years, he reflects on the people and events that he’s experienced. Hata, born Korean, assimilates to pass as Japanese because he believes that will lead to a better life. But nothing seems to be good enough for Hata to just be himself. Even as a successful medic, he finds himself exaggerating about his profession. As his story unfolds, precipitated by the small events surrounding him, we see his life begin to unravel.
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$23.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Asylum Hotel
by Juliet Blackwell
Readers will get the chills by reading this dark, atmospheric tale set in a debilitated asylum-turned-hotel. The once-celebrity hotel has been abandoned for years due to the speculations of ghosts living there. Locals think the previous murderers are connected, but none of that matters to hobbyist photographer Aubrey Spencer. She loves dark and morbid buildings, and this hotel is due to be completely demolished and renovated for new construction. When Aubrey meets an online internet celebrity who also enjoys old buildings, he is found dead near the hotel.
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