This book was well written and you could feel the emotions and pain coming through the words. I love the form it was told through — emails and letters. The author explains procedures and the various things she was doing to look after her patients, so I also learnt things, too. Most importantly, it gave me a tiny insight into what it was like working through this pandemic. How draining and upsetting and unbearable it must have been. It also was like a celebration of not just the author’s fellow nurses but her patients too. I liked the authors’ reflections. They were insightful and thought provoking and added a layer of depth to the story.

This is the kind of book everyone should read, so we all learn to have some empathy and consideration for the many nurses and doctors and key workers who kept the world turning. It was a hard read as it’s told so honestly and raw, discussing things such as death, end of life, and what the author saw during her work days through the pandemic.

My only issue is that it was repetitive. The same kind of stories related, so I got bored especially towards the end. The book couldn’t have been a lot shorter and still had the same emotional impact. But apart from that, this was a great read and incredibly insightful. Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author, for a chance to read and review this book.

This book provides a great insight into the role of the Critical Care Nursing, Medical and ancillary staff during the Covid crisis.
As a retired nurse and midwife, I was excited to read this first hand account of this unique time in history.
Some of it is heart wrenching, distressing and to read and truly tugs on one’s heart strings.
However……….a lot of it is repetitive, and (dare I say it) very self-congratulatory. Anthea Allen doesn’t hold back on her huge pride in what she has done and paints herself as the backbone of her unit, which I have no doubt she is, but for me I would have preferred to hear it from someone else how great she was and how good she was to her nurses and how she was a surrogate mother to them.
Yes, they were all undoubtedly overworked, under resourced and under an unbelievable amount of stress and yes they all deserved a pay rise but it’s a fact that Covid has destroyed the economy of the country and increased the National debt to a level that it will take years to recover from and I feel sure that no-one would disagree that the medical and nursing staff deserve a bigger increase in salary than they have received but realistically there is no money tree and it’s not a government not recognising their worth, just a government doing exactly what the medics were doing…….battling their way through un chartered waters as best the could with the resources they had.
I have to admit that after reading about 40% of the book, it got too repetitive and too self congratulatory for me and I skipped through most of the rest of the book.
Doctors and nurses in the Ukraine are now going through a much worse crisis even than Covid, doctors and nurses in countries in Africa having been battling death and disease for years with less resources than our nurses and doctors had here in Covid.
Yes they were brilliant but doctors and nurses and all the supporting staff have always been brilliant in times of war, crisis, famine, poverty and will always step up to the plate and give of their best and beyond. I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been half the length it is and edited better.

This book was definitely an inspiring and interesting read but unfortunately it wasn't my favourite medical memoir I have ever read.

I had a real issue with the structure of this book. It's broken down in to months between March 2020 and July 2021.

However, using this structure meant that the book was quite repetitive. Lots of same issues such as mental health were discussed multiple times.

Personally, I would have preferred it to be broken down into themes. This wouldn't have made it so repetitive to read.

Other than that it was a very enjoyable read. You definitely learn a lot from learning this book. It's easy to forget what nhs staff went through during the pandemic.

This book does end on a note about vaccination. Although, she never mentions all the NHS staff and nurses who are not vaccinated, which I thought was a shame as they also put the patients life's at risk and they don't get a say in who cares for them.

This book was definitely interesting but it wasn't my favourite medical memoir I've ever read due to the structure issues, but I do recommend if you want to learn more about how the NHS dealt with the pandemic.

My thanks to NetGalley and HarperElement publishing for the opportunity to review this memoir.
An astonishing insight into the courage, compassion, commitment and tenacity of life on the front line of the intensive care unit of St George’s hospital during the peak of the Covid crisis.
Well written with raw emotion, laughter and tears.
As a retired nurse it brought back many memories but even if you have no medical knowledge it is a book that shows the day to day battles that ensued within the NHS both practical and political.
Highly recommended.

What a brilliantly written book which took me on an emotional rollercoaster and gave great insight into life on the Covid frontline. Everyone should read this as it exposes the truth about a harrowing two years of the pandemic that decimated the lives of both medical staff and the people they cared for.

If this doesn’t convince you that nurses need a whacking great payrise, nothing will.

This diarised record of the pandemic was a hard read, but a veritable love letter to the nurses that have always been looking after folk in their darkest medical moments, the vulnerability , the fear and the loss of all artifice. Critical care nurses are legends.

Anthea Allen takes the reader into the world of a Critical Care nurse at the height of the COVID19 pandemic, highlighting the feelings, experiences and turbulence of the months and years. The book is formatted through the weekly emails that the author sent out, detailing what she and her colleagues were going through.

I am in awe of every nurse, and frontline worker, as they battled the unknown from the start of the pandemic. And this novel really makes you feel like you're going through the different experiences with them.

Whilst I enjoyed the novel, I found it a little disjointed, and sometimes wished that it had been written in more of a diary format, than the weekly emails. I understand why the book was done like this, and I did enjoy reading it, I just felt it had been thrown together a little. However, I would recommend everyone to read this and realise how much we owe to our medical care staff, and all those working in these environments. This is an important document of a time in our lives that we hope never to experience again.

This book was a really interesting insight into what it must have been like to work in intensive care during the grips of a pandemic. I think it would be a real eye opener for so many people , who were anyway skeptical of how serious an illness it is. I felt though that the book had nurses up on a pedestal. As a nurse myself I felt the constant praise towards nurses was very repetitive. And felt that other health care professionals were not given the same recognition or praise. Overall a interesting read, that had some valuable insights.

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy of this book for review.

Anthea Allen writes about her experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, the stresses and traumas upon the medics of St George's in South London, and the effects of it upon an already overstretched work force. Her book starts with a simple email and ends with the support of thousands. This is written in sort of a Diary style, an emails she sent and received between the write ups of her experiences.

I feel that the formatting of this book suits the style of writing and it's diary style. This book was well written and interesting to read.

I was interested in hearing how life was like in ICU the front line of covid. Having been a keyworker (in education), I know stressful the lockdowns were for us and could only imagine how nurses were coping.
The books are a series of emails written to family and friends during lockdown with additional text between. We get an insight into how resources were stretch to almost breaking point. Nurses from other departments had to learn critical care nursing on the go. PPE and lack of equipment hampering the nurses care.
What shines through is the dedication of NHS staff to their patients and the stresses of not always being able to nurse them as they would want.
What this book lacks is editing. The same phrases appear repeatedly and so I found myself skimming the last third of the story.

A diary of nursing on a Covid ward. It is a description of selfless, tireless, dedicated caring and it's inspiring, encouraging and uplifting.

The author was a sister on an ICU ward in London when Covid hit. Seeing how it was affecting her team, she emailed friends and neighbours asking for treats she could take to her staff.

Anthea Allen's heartfelt plea in her email touched a chord. She was inundated with cakes, biscuits and offers of support. People in lockdown, fearful of Covid were desperate to know more of what was happening on the frontline, and how they might do more than stand on their doorsteps and clap.

Anthea gave more details of her experiences and her emails reached an audience of thousands. Such was the response that she decided to provide regular updates. This book is a compilation of those weekly emails.

Warm and intimate, her writing vividly conveys the humour, fear, monotony and tragedy facing these committed nurses every day.

Anthea describes how the intensity of the work in unprecedented circumstances meant the staff quickly saw each other as famlly, building strong and lasting bonds. They found that they wanted to spend all their time in the wards as this was where they felt they were needed and had purpose. Many would come in on their days off.

She looks back on more normal times and reflects on the regular challenges of being a member of the critical care team, performing CPR, harvesting organs, providing end of life care. The compassion these nurses show is extraordinary and so comforting and humbling to read.

There are details about the practicalities of wearing PPE, of the lack of hot food and drinks, of no time to go to the bathroom. There are the moments of hilarity: an elderly patient is asked if they wanted a cup of tea and says they've already been given one by 'the other astronaut'; a mask confuses a simple request as someone thinks they're asked 'would you like a coffee?' when the question is 'do you know where the mop is?'

There may have been clapping on doorsteps, but the public was quick to forget all that the medical teams had done and continue to do, she says. Despite the pay and the conditions, the nurses continue to dowhat they do because of the job satisfaction. What they do matters.

This is a brilliant book. It's easy and compelling to read and there is so much to take away from it in being reminded of the phenomenal commitment, care and compassion by all those working in the NHS. It's a book to return to not just as a record of the response to the pandemic, but to be humbled by those whose job and vocation it is to care for others.

A heart-felt romp through 18 months of Covid through the eyes of am NHS Critical Care Nurse. Initially this held my attention, but that waned in the latter third of the book. Some great human moments captured.

I found this book to be full of revelations of how the pandemic impacted those people that had to protect us. The author was obviously someone who was desperate to protect her own colleagues and everyone else around her. I got the impression she didn't always reveal to others how she struggled at times. The emails to her friends were a great read. Thank you for sharing and showing how much you wanted to be there for the people who died without their families there.

A beautifully heartwarming account of a nurse and her experiences of working in ICU during covid, and highlights the struggles of working for an underfunded and overworked NHS

WoW What a brilliant book Life, Death and Biscuits by Anthea Allen was. This book took my breath away. This book is about critical care nurse's experiences during the Coronavirus Pandemic in a small corner of London, England. This a book everyone should read! Anthea Allen thought she'd seen it, all after being a nurse for 25 years for 23 of them a critical care nurse, But the latest few years has been tough for everyone. This remarkable book is written in a diary-like format account, which is made up of dated emails that were originally to friends and family etc.

This book covers from March 2020 to the summer of 2021, when there was PPE shortages etc. No one knew what was going to happen! if Coronavirus pandemic would end. How many people would die from it around the world.

This was a hard read of me as well as I my lovely mum died from Covid-19 in January 2021. A day I will never forget. It took only a few days to kill her and we I thought she was going to be ok. But sadly we were all wrong. I never had a chance to say goodbye to her, or go to her funeral or see her since the beginning of this Shitty Coronavirus pandemic as I live in France,

So Big Thank you to Anthea, to all the medical professions, care staff etc out there for being at the front line.
Big Hugs to you all.

This book deserves 5 Stars Not 3 stars!!! Big 5 big Stars!!!

Big Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an ARC copy in exchange for my review.

I blitzed through this book over the weekend as I just could not get enough. I enjoyed every second. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a real eye opener. We hear about front line nursing, we see news reports, but this is a personal account showing us what it is like for individuals, how the nurses felt, what they had to cope with. The frequent references as time went on to nurses from Europe leaving and returning to their homeland highlight for me the grim and shocking reality of Brexit, how these nurses, who were at home in the NHS, are treated as different and unappreciated despite the huge role they played during one of the most difficult times in history. What a genuine and lovely nurse we see in Anthea and how supportive to her team. I'd be happy as a parent if she was manager to one of my children starting out in their career. The simple idea of asking for treats for the nurses escalated in such a way as to involve so many people, and to read the emails kept the public involved. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to read this important book - may we never forget what the nurses in the NHS do for us, and let's hope that finally they can be rewarded as they should be. #netgalley #lifedeathandbiscuits

What a sensational, traumatic and heartbreaking book this has been to read.
I have a friend who works in the same position in a hospital and I have heard first hand about the horror and heartbreak that the staff endured every day for the last 2 years. They are a true inspiration.
This book gives you the raw, real and revealing life of a hospital worker in the pandemic.
5 star

A good read about a critical care nurse's experiences during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

After more than 20 years working as a critical care nurse, Anthea Allen thought she'd seen it all.
Then Coronavirus happened. This book documents her thoughts and experiences. Full on. She tells exactly what it was like through a series of emails which recount her experiences.

She had been a nurse for 25 years, 23 of them a critical care nurse. This is a sort of diary-like account, made up of dated emails that were originally to friends and family etc. It's a fast and informative, and eye-opening read-just a few repetitive statements spoiled it a bit for me. Mentioning certain things repeatedly is OK in a regular email update/blog-but when this is all stitched together in a book, it doesn't work as well. It's fine except for that; the repetition.

It's not all COVID-there's still the other kinds of emergencies that they have to deal with alongside.
Medical memoirs are amongst my favourite genres, and this is a good read.

What an extraordinary team ICU nurses are! Above and beyond in the time of COVID doesn’t even begin to describe what they went through and what they achieved in saving their patients - not just saving them, but giving them true compassion and love, days after day, week after week and month after month. And for those they couldn’t save, making sure that they had the best death that these wonderful people could manage to give them. Yes, the diary became a little repetitive, and it feels so mean to say that, but there are only so many ways to describe hell, and Anthea Allen used them all, sometimes more than once. Her personal asides were illuminating and an excellent foil for the endless trials of running an overworked and overcrowded ICU.