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A Little Unwell
Not yet published
Expected 28 Apr 26A compelling, candid and darkly funny novel that explores the modern realities of our dysfunctional public health system, and the fragile human beings fighting to make it work.
Night shift. Just keep them all alive until the morning they said.
No higher brain function required they said.
They were wrong.
For Amy, being a doctor was supposed to mean winning at life.
Helping people. Saving lives. Having a secure job. Earning good money. Tick, tick, tick, tick.
But now, in her second year in a city hospital the reality is a world away from Amy's med school dreams. She is finding out that people don't always want to be 'helped', the pay barely covers rent, her hours are ridiculous, her favourite patients are getting sicker, and her surgical trainee boyfriend has recently gone shy on proposing.
What Amy does have are the friendships forged by dealing with recalcitrant patients, endless nightshifts, and crying in the emergency department bathrooms. And a belief that maybe, underneath it all, it's a job that's still worth doing.
And when things begin to go wrong - horribly wrong - they're all that Amy has. Will it be enough?
A Little Unwell is a darkly funny and emotionally powerful medical drama about the life of a female junior doctor - dealing with recalcitrant patients, long hours and crying in the emergency department bathrooms - informed by the real-life experiences of the author.
Night shift. Just keep them all alive until the morning they said.
No higher brain function required they said.
They were wrong.
For Amy, being a doctor was supposed to mean winning at life.
Helping people. Saving lives. Having a secure job. Earning good money. Tick, tick, tick, tick.
But now, in her second year in a city hospital the reality is a world away from Amy's med school dreams. She is finding out that people don't always want to be 'helped', the pay barely covers rent, her hours are ridiculous, her favourite patients are getting sicker, and her surgical trainee boyfriend has recently gone shy on proposing.
What Amy does have are the friendships forged by dealing with recalcitrant patients, endless nightshifts, and crying in the emergency department bathrooms. And a belief that maybe, underneath it all, it's a job that's still worth doing.
And when things begin to go wrong - horribly wrong - they're all that Amy has. Will it be enough?
A Little Unwell is a darkly funny and emotionally powerful medical drama about the life of a female junior doctor - dealing with recalcitrant patients, long hours and crying in the emergency department bathrooms - informed by the real-life experiences of the author.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication April 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 23, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette, this is an ARC review.
If you didn’t know better, you’d be forgiven for thinking that A Little Unwell was a memoir. Riddled with the gallows humour that can only come from having worked in healthcare herself, Jewell writes about Amy, a junior doctor navigating the complexities of a hospital night shift rotation and some semblance of a personal life.
It’s rare that I ACTUALLY laugh out loud when I read but this book had me in fits of giggles from the start, before it had me bawling. The book paints a grim and unfortunately extremely realistic view of the Australian public healthcare system and some of the vast challenges our doctors are faced with every day - gruesome injuries, difficult patients, difficult colleagues, compassion fatigue, actual fatigue.
I enjoyed the tone and pace of the book and found it a very engaging novel, despite its often heavy content. I think this book will resonate deeply with anyone who has worked in frontline healthcare, and be equally valuable to those readers who haven’t. My only qualm was that I found Chris so infuriating, but I understand that this was purposeful!
TW: The novel is quite graphic in parts, uses strong language and addresses suicide. Read at your discretion.
Dark, wickedly funny, tragic and powerful - if you loved “This is Going to Hurt” then you will love A Little Unwell!
If you didn’t know better, you’d be forgiven for thinking that A Little Unwell was a memoir. Riddled with the gallows humour that can only come from having worked in healthcare herself, Jewell writes about Amy, a junior doctor navigating the complexities of a hospital night shift rotation and some semblance of a personal life.
It’s rare that I ACTUALLY laugh out loud when I read but this book had me in fits of giggles from the start, before it had me bawling. The book paints a grim and unfortunately extremely realistic view of the Australian public healthcare system and some of the vast challenges our doctors are faced with every day - gruesome injuries, difficult patients, difficult colleagues, compassion fatigue, actual fatigue.
I enjoyed the tone and pace of the book and found it a very engaging novel, despite its often heavy content. I think this book will resonate deeply with anyone who has worked in frontline healthcare, and be equally valuable to those readers who haven’t. My only qualm was that I found Chris so infuriating, but I understand that this was purposeful!
TW: The novel is quite graphic in parts, uses strong language and addresses suicide. Read at your discretion.
Dark, wickedly funny, tragic and powerful - if you loved “This is Going to Hurt” then you will love A Little Unwell!
Displaying 1 of 1 review