Fortunate Woman

In 1966 John Berger spent three months shadowing an English country GP, John Sassall. Sassall is a fortunate man – his work occupies and fulfils him, he lives amongst the patients he treats, the line between his life and his work is happily blurred. In A Fortunate Man, Berger’s text and the photography of Jean Mohr reveal with extraordinary intensity the life of a remarkable man.A few years ago, Polly Morland read Berger’s book for the first time. As she read, though it had been carefully anonymized, she realized that she knew the valley Sassall served and she realized that her local GP, a woman, was cut from the same cloth as John Sassall. This GP is also an old-fashioned family doctor, who lives among her patients and knows the ups and downs of their lives, not only what their medical records show. More than this, she chose her career path after reading Berger’s book in her teens. Like Sassall, she holds herself to be fortunate. This is her story, full of stories about her patients, observations on the natural world and broader thoughts about medicine and its place in our lives.Illustrated throughout with photographs by Richard Baker, A Fortunate Woman is a compelling, thoughtful and insightful look at the life and work of a remarkable woman. Funny, moving and not afraid of the dark, it will speak to readers everywhere.]]>