Moral Injuries

What an amazing book! The author is a doctor and so the details are accurate and authentic which adds to the story beautifully. The 3 main characters are all highly relatable, flawed women- mothers, lovers, doctors and friends. What an impressive fiction debut

Moral Injuries delves into the complexities of mature female friendship and the intense world of medicine. The dual time line story revolves around three lifelong friends, Laura, Olivia, and Anjali who met on the first day of medical school. When a tragic event involving their teenage children occurs, everything the three women have achieved is threatened.
From the very first page, I was captivated and could not put it down - a great read

This was an amazingly complex and well written book with twists and turns and an amazing story at the centre, I raced through it to get to the ending.

My absolute favourite kind of book. Anything intelligently, excitingly medical! Moral Injuries definitely fills the bill. The story jumps back and forth between 1999 and 2024. Three women meet as new medical students in 1999. By 2024 they are highly experienced doctors. Something occurs in 1999 that the women cover up. Will they do the same thing in 2024 when their children are involved in a similar situation? How do these events influence their ongoing relationships and careers? The book deals with these questions. It also manages to convey the enormous pressures on women who work in highly responsible jobs and have families. A fantastic read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am happy to recommend it. 5*
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Moral Injuries

Olivia, Laura, and Anjali became friends during their medical training and stayed close for twenty-five years. They keep each other secrets, even those involving someone's death. But when their teenage children get in trouble and are at risk of being arrested, friendship and the Hippocratic Oath become less important than the mother instinct to protect them at all costs.


I absolutely loved this book. I was hooked from the first chapter and just couldn't put it down. It's a very well written medical/ family thriller. It's clear that the author has a background in medicine, as all medical facts were accurate and easily blended with fiction.
I'm really looking forward to reading more books by Christie Watson!

What a fabulous book. I was totally hooked and involved with the lives of Olivia, Anjali and Laura. Meeting as students and becoming fast friends, the book follows their endeavours to qualify and work in the world if medicine. Their friendship grows steadily until life intervenes and everything changes. A tragedy and someone's endeavours to punish one of the trio has lifelong repercussions. Brilliant novel.

I really enjoyed this book. Three girls meet as they start to train as doctors. Anjali, Olivia and Laura. They stay together through their training and become firm friends. They decide on different specialities. Anjali becomes a GP, Olivia a heart surgeon and Laura an air ambulance doctor. The girls share a secret. During training something happens involving drugs and they stand together to keep this secret. Anjali has always thought the drama was her fault as she was in an abusive relationship which resulted in the forming of this secret. The story continues through their lives. Olivia is married to Dele and has two children. Laura is divorced with one child and Anjali is living with another woman, is really happy and in the system to adopt. Laura herself is not in a happy place and takes her angst out on long hours, hard work and risky sexual relationships. Laura’s son and Olivia’s daughter end up in a drama. Laura believes in her son totally but Olivia is trying to convince her that he is to blame and that her daughter is innocent even though the story is not the same as Laura’s son gives her. Who is telling the truth. The problem with this drama is that it is reminiscent of the secret that the women have kept for many years. This situation causes discourse between the three women and things come out that makes Laura and Anjali question what did happen all those years ago. The relationships start to fall apart especially as Anjali’s partner has strong moral fibre and goes to the police about the secret all those years ago once she finds out that there is a man who was sent to prison due to the secret. The story goes from strength to strength and I really enjoyed the characters. A lot of ethical issues here and I would like to see this in a TV show

I really enjoyed this book on different levels. The main twisty, complex story about 3 medical students swearing to be best friends forever and the fallout of a secret they keep is a real page turner and the truth is revealed in a very satisfying way.
Also, having spent 40 years working in the NHS I always like a book which celebrates the institution but portrays the staff as human with compassion, skill and flaws. The author also managed to highlight many of the grey areas faced daily and the ethics around many decisions with a light touch and woven into the fabric of the story.
Thank you to netgalley and Orion for an advance copy of this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The twists and turns the whole way through made it a real page-turner. Felt as though there was room left for there to be a sequel, which is definitely something I would be excited about!

I read this book with great interest and wasn’t disappointed. There was so much in the story related to the characters’ work in the NHS, that rang so true of how difficult and draining, both physically and mentally, it can be. The characters we meet are all surgeons or doctors in one field or another. The author demonstrates very clearly how close students/friends can become when studying and working so intensely together. The story also portrayed how the pressures of a career role such as this, can actually destroy those close relationships.
These four friends totally lived for each other and believed they’d be friends forever. Sometimes though, life doesn’t pan out how we think it will.
This is an excellent read and although fiction, a real eye-opener into pressures of work in today’s world. For me it particularly highlighted the effect on mental health today, which still gets overlooked at present. An excellent read.

Make sure you are not disturbed once you embark on this superlative read.
The multifaceted characters engage to the oh-so-satisfying denouement, the structure and delivery is honed and finessed; I doubt anyone could fail to identify with events and interactions, which are depicted with intelligence and empathy, humour and humanity. I loved it and hope for more from Christie Watson. This is sure to be one of the books of the year.
I am hugely grateful to have received an ARC in return for an honest review.