This is a factual account of the author Alys Morgan’s battle with COVID-19. It starts in March 2020 as Alys learns that the library where she works will be closing for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus lockdown. As the days pass Alys learns how to cope with the restrictions imposed, while trying to get on with life. However as the weeks pass Alys finds herself ill and is very soon hospitalised with the dreaded COVID. This is a sobering, scary story of how this virus ravaged this woman, how she survived and how the NHS staff are struggling to cope with the onslaught. It is interspersed with quotes from Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) and the comparisons are eerily accurate. It’s a very short book so I would encourage everyone to read it in the hope it might help people understand how strange and unpredictable this virus is. Thanks to #NetGalley for this advanced copy. #WardNine:Coronavirus #WardNine #ParthianBooks #alysmorgan

This book gave a true, in depth experience of having covid 19 and what it was also like for the medical staff, it was si h a touching read.

I was moved to tears by WARD NINE, a poignant first-hand account of COVID-19. Alys Morgan, an older woman, was one of Wales’ earliest patients when hospitalized for three weeks last April. Her
experience is relived in a spare though impactful style, less ethereal than Katherine Anne Porter’s PALE RIDER, PALE HORSE, a fictive narrative of the 1918 flu. We’re moved, as well, by quotes in Alys’ memoir from Defoe's A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR (the bubonic scourge in 1665 London).

WARD NINE reminds us of COVID’s lethality and the importance of precautions. It reminds us, too, that the human spirit is resilient. The world has survived pandemics before and will again. As Alys ponders in recovery, “How will I live now?”Book sales go, in part, to Mind Conwy in Wales, which provides mental health care to patients like Alys.

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 04 Jun 2021
#WardNine #NetGalley

Thanks to Parthian Books and NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

A hard hitting memoir of a Covid survivor. Alys gives an account of how it hit her family and how she ended up going through the complete hospital experience. I read this during lockdown 3 and had ambulance sirens passing so made it very real. A tribute to the hard working staff at the hospitals and the impact on the country. A really strong read reminding us why we need to adhere to these awful restrictions.

This was a sort of memoir-diary entries of a Walsh women and another diary source from, A Journal of the Plague Year.
The author tells of her own experience having COVID-19. Her experience in the hospital with the people who died and the medical staff who took care of her. She talks about surviving when others didn’t. She concludes with questions about whether we (as humans) will have learned anything from this. Will it makes us a better person? Or worse?
I thought this was ok. I work in heathcare so maybe it wasn’t as in-depth as I wanted.
Thanks to One Women’s Story Publisher via Netgalley for this ARC. I’ve voluntarily given my honest review.

"Ward Nine: Coronavirus" tells the story of one woman's experience with COVID-19 through dated diary entries and selected quotes from Defoe's "A Journal Of A Plague Year (1972)."

Morgan's writing is very direct and honest. Her retelling of her experience with COVID-19 and subsequent hospital stay provides readers with a personal perspective on this ongoing health crisis - and forces us to consider if we're doing enough to help the situation.

While Morgan's writing style alone doesn't quite communicate the depth of this health crisis, her decision to include Defoe's writing does a great job confirming the message.

Given that the COVID-19 crisis is ongoing, I can't recommend this book to anyone right now (as it would probably terrify them), but I honestly believe this is an important book that will help provide a human perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this - and thank you to the author for sharing her story!

An honest and well-written account of what it’s like to have Covid-19. From the hospital stay to the symptoms. It gives the reader an insight into what our hospitals and serves as a reminder almost of what can happen and why it’s now more than ever important to follow the rules.
The book talks about everything that occurred in the first lockdown including the clapping for the NHS every Thursday evening.
It also saddening to see that it has been almost a year later and we are still in the same situation as we were back in march (worse if I am being honest). I really do think more people should read this as it might open people’s eyes to the realities of this disease and may reduce the vast amount of people who sadly still believe that Covid-19 is not real.
All in all a great read !

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'Ward Nine: Coronavirus'.

I was grateful to be able to learn about Alys Morgan's experiences after contracting Covid-19. We are now in our third lockdown and daily fatality numbers are higher than ever and I worry that patients may now have to line up for the kind of treatment Alys Morgan had. The wonderful nurses and doctors will now be even more stressed and one can only hope that they don't suffer from long-term problems with their mental health.

This is a fascinating and interesting account of one woman’s experience of being very unwell & hospitalised with COVID-19.
It’s a short easy read and although very sad and difficult subject it was enjoyable.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this to review.

I was keen to read this, to get a personal insight on Covid. It was good to read her own experiences, especially as some of them are not the usual, however I have to say that a lot of it felt like experiences we have heard many times in the news and media. I was also not particularly keen on the extracts from Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague', I didn't find them comparable.

Still overall a good, short read (took a couple of hours).

This book is incredibly important, and perhaps even shocking for many that are more ignorant on the realities of the virus.

Morgan has a unique way of writing in which she is able to convey the pain, confusion, heartache and hopelessness involved in the illness for her. She doesn’t pretend to be anything she isn’t - a normal person who indeed does find things challenging, and often impossible.
The book does this through a form of diary entries spanning from March to May, interjecting extracts from Defoe’s account of the Great Plague of 1665. Countless similarities are drawn between the Plague and the Coronavirus, heightening perceived severity of it all the more. This is such a powerful device employed by Morgan, and truly captures the fear she herself experienced.

Something I loved about this book was it’s portrayal of the NHS. Exactly the same as the writer, the NHS workers are ordinary people too - doing an extraordinary job. The genuine concern and care she portrayed them to have expresses the reason she herself kept going, didn’t give up. Even as she left the hospital, they were forced to continue; their job wasn’t yet over.

It’s easy to wish this book had been more positive, more full of hope or had a happier ending. But that would dampen the reality of the experiences many have had - and will continue to have. All we can do as readers is to keep going day by day - and to stay inside. Each person has a role to play, and this book is pivotal in expressing that.

This book is the first I have read written by a Coronavirus survivor. It is true story of Alys who contracts coronavirus and is hospitalised for 3 weeks. She tells her story interspersed with excerpts from Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the plague year which really reflects this illness and the pandemic.
As someone who had coronavirus in March 2020 and was hospitalized in July because of lingering symptoms the isolation of the hospital ward really reminded me of my stay there. No visitors and just the staff there. Workers from all over the world putting themselves at risk at work to look after the patients.
As I write this in December coronavirus is increasing again and I do feel worried for the staff in the NHS and that this virus has changed our world forever.
Of course minds as well as bodies are changed by experiencing a virus that you may not recover from and the links in the back of the book are important and welcome. I went to have a coffee the day after I left hospital with my family and found myself crying in my cup because I thought I may never get to go to a coffee shop again. Covid changes lives.
I felt sad reading this book but glad that stories are being written about this time and I am glad Alys made it through and got better.

This book was a lot shorter than I thought that it would be but a great insight into what it is like to have coronavirus and also the emotional feelings you will go through too.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.
As someone that is a healthcare professional who works in a hospital this book really appealed to me. Most books about the pandemic have been written by staff but this book is about a patients experience with Coronovirus.
The book is written as a short diary from the perspective of a survivor. This person spent quite some time in hospital too.
The good parts of the book were the in depth writings of her symptoms, her experience in hospital and her thankfulness for the NHS staff.
Unfortunately for me it didn’t delve deep enough. I’m not sure whether this is because I work in a hospital or not but I wanted more from her own thoughts and feelings. She quotes consistently from Defoe’s book about the plague which I found distracting and annoying. I get the comparison but I felt 60% of the book was full of these quotes which I really didn’t like.

An interesting book of a person’s first-hand account of having coronavirus, very honest and emotional read.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Short and moving, this tale of covid 19 in the early outbreak is interesting and fully engrossing. Read in one sitting

Author Alys Morgan was admitted to hospital with an unexplained bug after having nursed her daughter through an illness. She was unable to stand and very weak. After a worrying night in hospital she was diagnosed with COVID-19 and what follows is her personal account of what happens to her and those around her.

She includes passages from Dafoe's The Plague which resonate with with the current pandemic and she cannot praise our wonderful NHS high enough. I found her story quite frightening at times as well as interesting. Would recommend.

This is a truly emotional read it certainly is an eye opener into the NHS and the work they do.
It's thought provoking and had me in tears in parts.

Thanks for the advanced copy.

I work in the NHS and find this book upsetting in parts. I find this time of year difficult with pressure and this brings it home just how under funded the NHS really is.

Well worth a ready and an honest and open account that many need to read.

Book Review for Ward Nine: Coronavirus by Alys Morgan
Full review for this title can be found at: @fyebooks on Instagram!