This is not a novel based on fact nor is it a daily diary journal. It is the straightforward retelling of a number of events as they arose in the working life of a Critical Care Nurse during the period from March 2020 to July 2021.
Anthea Allen’s emails began with an initial plea for biscuits for nurses and culminated in an incredible collection of memories and moments from this period of trying to cope with the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic.
Allen doesn’t avoid painful details and her desperation is so often apparent but her determination and grit prevent this from becoming merely a depressing read to one that gives you comfort and, surprisingly given the topic, hope.
Don’t be afraid to read this.
Thank you to Harper Element (Harper Collins Publishers) and NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a great insight in to the incredible work and dedication that the critical care nurses do.

It highlighted the incredibly challenging times during Covid and the impact it had on all staff, both physically and mentally.

If it were up to me I would give them all 100% pay rise, they do a phenomenal job. They literally our earth angels

"Doctors diagnose and cure. Nurses treat and care. Together we unite, doing our absolute best"

This book is written by a critical care nurse who worked during the recent pandemic. She began to document her thoughts and feelings and ended up with a bit of a media platform during the time and this book is a reflection of that. I must have missed this last during that time - maybe I was living under a rock . . . Well I guess we all were in some way and it was very humbling to read what the nurses went through during the time. It really brought home quite how lucky I was during the time and that I didn’t really have much risk. Because each entry was dated it was easy for me to think back to what I was during during those months and how easy really we all had it. It also brings home the whole politics situation aswell that is appearing again now. A very good informative read.

This is an incredible book that left me an emotional wrecked.

How easily and quickly we forget the terrible and tragic start to covid.
I recall the fear, watching the news , ringing loved ones . Now covid is a household word , with so many around us having had it or currently have it. Its easy to forget how all the doctors and nurses fought for us in those unknown times, and continue to do so today.
While I understood how dedicated and hard it was for the medical professions then, I can honestly say after this book I really had no idea . This book really highlights what the nurses went through . This is an incredibly important book for generations to come to be able to look back to those times . This is such a valuable resource that I feel everyone should read .

I laughed, cringed and more that anything else cried while listening to this.
I loved that it was read by the author too.


I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Life, Death and Biscuits by Anthea Allen, a NetGalley read. This is a personal account based in the diaries on the author who is an intensive care Nurse. Anthea worked on the a front line of the NHS during covid. Anthea starting sending emails to her community and soon they were gaining peoples interest.
Wow what an account of the Front Line this is, it’s raw, honest and at times hard to read. It seems like only yesterday that the world changed because of covid, everyone has their own experience of this time and we all dealt with it differently, reading this book was a stark reminder of what we went through. It’s a very thought provoking and emotional read, however the authors sense of humour comes through and it will make you laugh and smile. While reading it it felt almost like for the author it was a form of letting go, sharing her experiences via these email, almost becoming like therapy. It’s an amazing eye opener to what went on on the front line during covid times, the pressure and the stress jumps of the pages and you can’t help but have admiration for what these nurses and doctors do. As I was reading this I couldn’t help again to admire their strength because I certainly couldn’t do what the author does it’s amazing and the things she has dealt with, when you think about it are unthinkable, but are real and happen. I read this book and it made me think what I went through, how it effected my family and the long term effects it had had on us and on our mental health and when I looked back I felt incredibly proud, incredibly grateful and incredibly emotional. If I had one criticism it would be because of the way it’s written, as the author sending emails, for me it didn’t flow. In a way it was nice to read something that was about covid, a book that didn’t shy away from the word covid and talked about covid head on and as I’ve said with honesty. Covid happened, it’s part of of our history, it’s still part of the present and we need to talk about it, the effects it had on everyone from every walks of life. This is definitely worth a read and one I will remember and recommend. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately this for me was a 3⭐️ at a push, I don’t want to take anything away from the fantastic job nurses did through covid and continue to do under stringent circumstances and is definitely a job of love and dedication because it’s certainly not for the money or recognition. But alas I found myself skim reading this as it got a little repetitive and was not what I was expecting to be fair. Credit where it’s due I understand it’s a true account and somebody memoir but it just wasn’t for me.

Detailing the inspirational work done by critical care nurses during the pandemic, this is an interesting look at the effects of covid from the frontline. Whilst I found it very interesting, I thought it was dragged out and somewhat repetetitive. I think it could have been better if it had been much shorter.

Theses stories aren't for everyone, some people feel it is too close or too soon. I think it is perfect timing because everyone has opinions on everything but not everyone is dealing with the reality of working in healthcare in these uncertain times.

I have read a fair few of these books and whilst it was interesting it wasn't my favourite. The author/nurse started off writing her accounts/experiences as a diary/emailing out to people and keeping them updated on what was going on and also requesting support, kind word, some eateries (cakes/biscuits) and just moral support for what her team where enduring.

I always think it is so interesting to hear from different areas both in hospital departments and actual locations. I was surprised to hear ICU in England cleared and had lulls inbetween the mania. When it hit bad there was help and runners in ICU in the form of a beauty therapist (I think specially a hairdresser, they ran and got all the drugs but advised the author they couldn't administer because they were not a nurse) that was mind blowing. We did see some of the horrific measures healthcare staff faced down in England but it still catches you how dire some of the situations are.

This nurse put a lot of positivity in this and to her team which I think probably kept so many of them going. Unless you are in it you just can't imagine, even reading books like this.

There are some scenes that are graphic and detail what these poor patients endured, high deaths rates and turnovers so just a heads up when going into any of these kind of reads.

A few times I felt it was quite repetitive but then it did start out as a communication and thing for her so understandable. Interesting read none the less and I will continue to read peoples experiences of care giving during the pandemic and just true stories in general of what it is like in different areas, 3/5 for me.

I am a huge fan of medical memoirs and Anthea Allen has just added another fantastic book to my shelf. Life, Death and Biscuits is the memoir of Critical Care Nurse during the Covid pandemic. Anthea describes events and the situations that staff found themselves in with brutal honesty, and despite there being times where she talked about acts of generosity, people pulling together, good outcomes; I was still left with a prevailing feeling of outrage. NHS staff on the frontline, and those supporting frontline staff, should have been treated far better than they were; and that's aside from the fact that they have now gone back to being poorly treated since Covid-19 has been downgraded.
I loved Anthea's perspective from being an experienced Nurse and someone who trains and leads others. She spoke about her colleagues with such warmth and love. It was very interesting reading about how Critical Care Nurses worked pre-Covid and the differences to their daily work during Covid.
Overall a great book, a little repetitive in places, but a fantastic read and highly recommended.

I love medical accounts and I have read several books which focus on the medical experience of Covid.
Life, Death and Biscuits is the account of an intensive care nurse based on diaries and email updates she wrote throughout the Pandemic.
This is a sobering account - it has to be. The author provides an incredible narrative of the expert work of the nurses and an intuitive and empathetic insight into the patients she treated. At one point she had put out a request for biscuits to help sustain stamina and spirits and the biscuits come, and the cake came and kept on coming…
There are several things which set this account apart - firstly I found the author included a lot of technical detail - for example about the ventilators - which really added to my understanding. The technical detail was expertly explained so that anyone could understand the function of the machinery or the aspects of the care. I also loved the thread about biscuits and cakes which worked through the story highlighting the humanity of the community outside the hospital which literally fed the nurses’ spirits, and contrasted to the lack of supplies and support from government.
Throughout this is an incredible testament to care, empathy and compassion and to a unique time in social and medical history which put the medical profession and humanity to the test as never before. What shines out is the absolutely amazing staff of the NHS.
I cannot give this less than 5 stars for what it offers as a depiction of a particular time and for the writing of such an account when the author was busy being a parent and an Intensive Care Nurse.
With thanks to Netgalley and for a digital copy of this b

I finished this book this morning. Many thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have to confess, I didn't enjoy this. This book was originally a set of emails sent by a critical care nurse during Covid with some small bits of narrative. I find it difficult to say I didn't enjoy it when it somebody's story based on their experiences.

I struggled to finish this as I found it too long and very repetitive. I also didn't like some of the political feelings that were put in the book around Brexit, people not getting the vaccine and the 1% pay increase. I'm not sure if it isn't just too soon for a book of this nature to be released, but I don't recommend it.

I think in years to come, it will be an interesting book to revisit as a reminder to people about the effects of covid, but it isn't for right now.

A story that you will never forget, for both the subject and the emotion written in this book.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

I would give this book 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.
This book was an interesting look at the life of a critical care nurse during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was both heartbreaking and heartwarming in places and it was interesting to learn what exactly a critical care nurse is tasked with daily.
However, this has not been my favourite medical memoir, having read Adam Kay’s This Is Going To Hurt just before starting this book. While I liked that the emails that Anthea originally sent out were included, they became very repetitive and I started to become a little bit bored of reading about the same things. I understood that when they were sent out, they were a week or so apart from each other so it may have been necessary for the repetition, but I just don’t think that it worked well within a book.
I also started to get annoyed at the way that Anthea referred to young doctors and belittled them (they were so young they still had acne or a doctor fainted within 2 hours of starting work on the Covid ICU) and how she repeatedly told the reader that the nurses that were sent to help weren’t trained enough and weren’t giving the best care to their patients. It was like she forgot that these nurses had been pulled out of their specialties and thrown into a place where they had to learn new skills, I would bet that Anthea couldn’t work in the areas that these nurses came from to the same standard as them either.
I also got frustrated and felt that she was trying to make us feel sorry for the nurses who were fed three times a day during the start of the pandemic and were forever being gifted snacks, gift bags and hampers and how later on during the second wave she said that they did their job without the discounts, without the free coffee and without a pay rise. While these nurses really did go through hell and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, the hospital nurses received a lot more than other nurses (especially community nurses), support workers and care home staff who worked tirelessly through the pandemic caring for those who weren’t in the hospitals. The only difference being that they didn’t have the luxury that Anthea and her team had of the food and endless “PPE hugs” whilst still working in the strangest times. Another sentence that stuck out to me was “only nurses talk of food while the aroma of faeces fills the air”, which is not true at all. Anyone who works within the health and social care sector and deals with the personal care of people have the same sense of humour and the same outlooks as many nurses but often get forgotten about.
While this book was interesting to begin, I found from about 40% through I was starting to get very annoyed by the repetition and the self-congratulatory writing that I wasn’t sure if I could finish the book. I think the book could have been much shorter than it was, but I also think that anyone who worked from home or was furloughed during the pandemic should read this to understand how hard it was to work on the front lines while most were enjoying the glorious weather and all of the lockdown activities that went on.

A must read!

You cannot truly say you understand how the pandemic changed lives until you read this book. The dedication and sacrifices of the nurses is just outstanding but hearing the first person account was truly humbling.

A very powerful story written by an Intensive Care Nurse in my local hospital. Anthea is a very experienced nurse. She processes and recalls the human story of the impact of covid on her work. I should have appreciated this book. I was a nurse for over forty years and this is probably the Intensive Care Unit I would be taken to if I became ill. I had a natural curiosity to read the book..
I soon realised the impact of the book, I couldn't sleep after reading it. I believe the author has very sensitively dealt with recounting what has happening for her. Depending on your background Anthea appears to write with honesty and compassion, something that may be a great comfort.. There is fear with the reality, there is also some laughter as the stories of people evolve.
I can't give this book the review it deserves. I know many people will want to know how the hospitals and the staff coped. and I would recommend this book if you want to know. Perhaps avoiding reading this at bedtime and if possible talk about it with others.
I admire Anthea and am grateful there are people like her.

You can feel the love and commitment that Anthea has for her job, it literally jumps out of the pages. I believe you’re born a nurse or doctor. The level of commitment and drive it takes to sustain and keep going against all odds is something that cannot be taught. It’s innate. A few years ago this kind of thing was something that we never thought we’d live through, only see in movies. We owe a lot to the people who have been there and cared enough to keep us all going, especially when we couldn’t. Deserving of 5 stars!

Enjoyed this book about a critical care nurse during the Covid19 Pandemic working at St Georges hospital I can relate to some of this working within the NHS myself especially during the pandemic and how life changed for everyone and how the NHS was swamped under with the pressures and how dedicated staff went beyond whats expected to keep patients alive under extreme pressures.

This book is written by a Critical Care Nurse of over 20 years working through the Covid pandemic. She started writing emails to a few friends jokingly asking for biscuits for the ward and was inundated over the time the pandemic continued. She continued written an email blog throughout the pandemic and it went viral. The book narrates the drama from her point of view ss well as her staff. I am not going to write a long review other than to say it was an amazing book which everyone should read. We all know how hard our NHS nurses etc work and this really brings home their work load. I cannot praise this book enough for a lay person to read and know we will always be in good hands, pandemic or not. FAB BOOK lighthearted, funny, sad and compelling

This felt like the perfect time for such a hard hitting subject to be put into words.
Great read, would recommend

A raw and honest account of the day to day trials faced by front line NHS staff during the pandemic. Anthea Allen provides us with a moving and unflinching narrative of the daily stresses along with those moments that provided light relief. Highly recommended.