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Flesh and Blood

A History of My Family in Seven Maladies

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Flesh and Blood

By: Stephen McGann
Narrated by: Stephen McGann
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About this listen

 Stephen McGann is Doctor Turner in the BBC hit-drama series Call the Midwife. His family survived famine-ravaged Ireland in the 1850s. His ancestors settled in poverty-rife Victorian Liverpool, working to survive and thrive. Some of them became soldiers serving on the Western Front. One would be the last man to step off the SS Titanic as it sank beneath the icy waves. He would testify at the inquest. This is their story.

Flesh and Blood is the story of the McGann family as told through seven maladies – diseases, wounds or ailments that have afflicted Stephen’s relatives over the last century and a half, and which have helped mould him into what he now perceives himself to be. It’s the story of how health, or the lack of it, fuels our collective will and informs our personal narrative. Health is the motivational antagonist in the drama of our life story – circumscribing the extent of our actions, the quality of our character and the breadth of our ambition. Our maladies are the scribes that write the restless and mutating genome of our self-identity.

Flesh and Blood combines McGann’s passion for genealogy with an academic interest in the social dimensions of medicine – and fuses these with a lifelong exploration of drama as a way to understand what motivates human beings to do the things they do. He looks back at scenes from his own life that were moulded by medical malady, and traces the crooked roots of each affliction through the lives of his ancestors, whose grim maladies punctuate the public documents or military records of his family tree. In this way he asks a simple, searching question: how have these maladies helped to shape the story of the person he is today? Hear Stephen’s incredible story told in his own words in this magnificent unabridged audiobook.
 Inspiring Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Health

Critic reviews

‘Flesh and Blood is living drama extracted like buried treasure from old documents and the hand-me-down stories of his relatives. I couldn't put it down’ (Jenny Agutter)
‘Drama and reality repeatedly intersect in unexpected ways in this powerful and revealing memoir’ (Mail on Sunday)
‘With its mix of readable science and passionate sensibility, Flesh and Blood is essentially an attempt to heal the old rift between science and art’ (Radio Times)
‘It is an artful, honest book, marked by the author’s clear-eyed examination of how his family’s lives were entwined with history’s often terrible markers’ (New Statesman)
‘Each event becomes real, in one breath fascinating with medical detail, in the next an emotional contraction. Elegant in its metaphors, this book is about memory, how it shapes us, and what we choose to pass on. If all that remains of us is the story we tell, then McGann’s narrative is an insightful, beautiful legacy’ (The Irish Times)
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I loved this story from start to finish and what a treat to hear it from the author's mouth. I especially liked the structure of each section where the malady is described in a detached way imparting the medical descriptions and explanations before returning to the stories of these real people. Heidi's story was especially pogniant and had me in tears!

a heart wrenching tale in places

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Love the narration. I have a lot in common with the Irish and Merseyside history.

Loved it.

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Never heard of the author or his theatrical family before, but I did hear him describing his book on the radio which tempted me to get the audiobook. He has put together a pretty good book which he reads excellently. It’s a bit slow at times, especially when describing medically the various maladies, but mostly it is very entertaining. The author revels a tad too much in his own glory as an actor for my taste, but I guess to be fair he is primarily doing so to contrast his professional success and social acceptance with the ghastly situation his Irish immigrant ancestors faced in the mid nineteenth century. Has a major dig at one of his brothers which not sure was necessary to the story or whether I’d have included in a public book myself. Overall its faults are minor, it’s pretty good listen, and I recommend the book.

Interesting listen, unique concept well delivered.

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This is such a beautiful way to tell a family history. From the very beginning I was captivated by the descriptions of maladies intertwined with the stories of family life over a century and a half. There were intensely moving moments where tears streamed down my face, along with informative aspects of medical developments. Being just one year older than Stephen with a family history connected to Liverpool’s lower classes for nigh on 3 centuries I’m finding myself inspired to find out more than the data on a page. Thank you Stephen.

Moving, captivating, and a great listen

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if you're a fan of stephen Mcgann's acting you'll really enjoy this book, it starts from his ancestors suffering during the potato famine In Ireland 1845 and his own struggles with childhood asthma and agropobia in his teenage years and how he became an actor. it's a brilliant mix of science, drama and history in one definitely highly recommend if you like Stephen

really awesome book

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