Blue is for Covid. It seems appropriate that was the colour chosen to designate those hospitalised with the virus that affected us all. The author encapsulates the progress of the pandemic and its effects on those in hospital and families. She is a real team player, who clearly is an outstanding nurse. Her experiences echoed those I heard from a friend who was a nurse in ICU.

The book made me laugh and cry, described this awful time, and how some survived due to the dedication of hospital staff.

An insight into a critical care nurse during the pandemic. Told through a series of emails which I found a bit strange. A very insightful delve into the horrors that they faced and are still continuing to face. Very informative.

An honest account of how it was for a critical care nurse during the Covid pandemic. Heartbreaking at times.

This is more than a medical memoir. Anthea Allen, an experienced Critical Care Sister, narrates a harrowing personal history of the extreme challenges she and her team face when working during the fatal fallout of the global Covid pandemic which upturns lives and livelihoods.

Working and surviving in a Critical Care unit appears to be a matter of determined teamwork, excellence under great duress, life, death, compassion, love, and needful sustenance: such as chocolates, cakes and biscuits from grateful former patients and their relatives.

Imagine how important the usual supportive measures are when clinical staff are pressured beyond belief and can barely squeeze in a rest break, drink or meal. The traumatic working day is like being stuck in a recurring nightmare where you can’t wake up or forget what’s happening.

A heart-breaking, insightful, riveting read, it depicts Covid-19 beginning to have a huge impact on the already badly managed, depleted and poorly equipped NHS, existing as it does on the critical knife edge between providing adequate health provision and chaos.

It covers from March 2020 to the summer of 2021, with all the PPE shortages, rush, hurry, panic, pause, recalibrate, then reboard the “Covid Express” to do it all over again, often with changed locations, equipment and staff members as wards are utilised into emergency care bays.

Yet the brilliant and amazing critical care nurses in particular do their utmost to provide the best, kindest and safest care possible, crisis or no crisis. They are deeply committed to their patients, trying to help people survive in life threatening circumstances.

As an ex-nurse I loved revisiting the hospital environment, ached with sympathy for their plight and felt upset at the way they are treated sometimes. It’s an enlightening read that will make you laugh and cry and applaud them all for their ability to keep going and extreme courage under fire. Grateful thanks to NetGalley and HarperElement for the eRAC.

Not my usual style of book, but I had to shield throughout covid and thought out nhs had gone Above and beyond. Amazed me tk read these stories. Such an apt and relevant read

This is an interesting description of the fight against Covid from the frontline, told by a nurse who worked in ICU, and the many make shift ICU wards the hospital needed to create. We are told at the start that we are reading emails that were sent to friends and family as she detailed the pandemic from the inside - all in the quest for biscuits to take to work to feed the army of nurses and hospital staff who were working under extreme conditions.

The first half of the book is interesting and, at time frightening. However, the second half of the book is more of the same with the second wave of the illness surging. To be honest, I found myself craving a bit more detail and a bit more emotion.

On the whole, a good read about something very current and this book will serve as a record for years to come.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the first few chapters of Life, Death and Biscuits. At times, Anthea's depiction of what nurses faced whilst working in critical care units during Covid-19 was heartbreaking to read. I don't think that I would have the strength to do what they did. She beautifully portrayed how important her colleagues were to each other. It was heartbreaking to read how many young nurses didn't want to tell their parents how bad working conditions were.

The first few chapters deserve a five-star rating. Unfortunately, after a while, the chapters seemed to get a bit repetitive and didn't hold my interest throughout.

Life, Death and Biscuits by Anthea Allen is very different from my usual reading genre. I wanted to give a quick trigger warning, for anyone who has been deeply affected by Covid, and I do know that there are so many. Not just bereaved families, but also those who may have been nursed on ICU, and also those who are currently suffering from Long Covid. There are many details of Covid's affects, and some people may be upset by this, reminded of very bad times.

The book, quite literally, tells of the week by week experience of Anthea Allen, who is a Senior Critical Care Nurse at St George’s. At the start of the pandemic, nearly two years ago, she started writing a weekly e-mail, to her friends. Initially for people to be aware of the current situation, and not to underestimate the danger of Covid, but I think it quickly turned into therapy for Anthea as well.
The backbone of the book, are the e-mails themselves. This gives us a very honest view of how it felt at that time, not looking back with hindsight.
I think this is an important book, that really should be read by anyone responsible for funding the NHS. Those who look after the pennies, but don’t understand the reality of how that money works or doesn’t work, when dealing with real life situations. For me, as a reader, I did find it a little repetitive. Which in a way makes sense, as the feeling on a daily basis must have been a “Groundhog Day” existence. A never ending stream of patients, presently similarly, seemingly without end. The letter at the very end, which had been sent from an ex-patient called Ray, to Anthea, was incredibly moving and poignant. 4⭐️ from me.

This book invoked mixed feelings within me and part of me feels that maybe it is just too much the reality still to fully appreciate the story being told.

I went to this book expecting something a little different I thing- I almost thought it would be like other details medical memoirs and less around what we already know of the pandemic and although it did offer a raw and honest insight into the life of critical care nurses I also felt it didn't feel like anything dissimilar to what we had seen on the news. I would have liked more of the added details between the email extracts- they would have really helped bring it to life.

I enjoyed the sense of community that was demonstrated among not only the nurses but the hospital staff as a whole and the way it did demonstrate that even amongst the darkness and chaos that has been the last few years the staff working so hard to look after us all found light among that darkness.

Overall i did enjoy the insight this book gave but equally i felt the editing could have made it a lot smoother, there was a lot of repetition and feel the style could have been amended to come away from the emails that were written for a different purpose and instead focus on the parts in between that we didn't see already.

A truly honest and moving account of the nurses flung into the Covid crisis. The story highlights their trauma with respectful encounters of the patients. An experience no-one signed up for the staff of St. George's fight the daily battle. Then for the second wave to overwhelm again was bringing staff to breaking point. Some wonderful insights to how Brexit, vaccines and the care from the community affected the Critical Care team. Educating, heartbreaking and heartwarming.

What a brilliant book. I think we all know that doctors and nurses were our front line heroes during the pandemic. This is a very sobering account of that time.

Oh wow! ( I write this and am not sure that should have the exclamation mark- it should and it shouldn't-reading on may explain this). This is a book about the very front line during the pandemic in a small corner of London, England. Many know about people requiring ventilators during this period- what many don’t know is that it takes the experience of a critical care nurse to operate them- few nurses were trained in this and even less doctors. Anthea is a one of these highly skilled nurses and tells of her days through emails to friends which by putting words on paper kept her sane. She asked for some biscuits as many of the staff being kitted up in PPE couldn't leave the ward (if they did it was a full clothes and ppe change for which they didn't have time or energy) and the hospital shops refused to serve them, knowing they were dealing with such critically ill covid patients. The response she got was overwhelming.
Thank you doesn't seem enough to these dedicated, caring staff. To the nurses and doctors through to those many don't even know about- the lab technicians who do all the tests on which medicine depends, the pharmaceutical staff working day and night to find vaccines and test medicines on which many lives depend. The porters, the cleaners, the administration staff the list goes on. Everyone of them made and every day makes the NHS (and private care) what it is in this country- a truly brilliant organisation. For anyone who complains- try being ill abroad or even in Ireland where I understand that a GP trip may cost you 50E or more each and every time.
This is brilliantly written. The clarity of what was happening through to the smiles when a doughnut appeared makes this a very real read. A truly inspiring memorable read and several messages for us all to look after ourselves- stay fit and healthy and don’t take unnecessary risks. As I understand Steve Jobs once said “ let food be your medicine otherwise medicine will be your food”. We can all help the NHS by doing this. One life- live it well.
For more reviews please follow me on Twitter@nickisbookblog

(rest of links on publication)

A fascinating read covering Anthea’s life as a critical care nurse through the COVID 19 pandemic. Adapted from emails she sent to family and friends through the peak of the pandemic. This book is a piece of social history, raw, honest and I’m sure it will be referred to in the future. Unfortunately the fight goes on
Highly Recommended
Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins UK and Anthea Allen for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review

I knew this would be a hard read and in many ways it was but as a retired nurse it was also a reality check. A book politicians and anti Vaxers should read. However it’s not a political book but you can’t help but see that in it. A diary often repeats itself and because of the nature of the book and what happened over the past 2 yrs this does occur but the author has tried to bring in humour Thanks Anthea your publisher and NetGalley.

We have experienced a unique period of time over the last 2 years but the critical care teams have been on the front line. This is no woe are we memoir but a reflective look at the unique challenges and team work that helped save so many lives. It is written with admiration, laughter and awe of her colleagues and the wider NHS.
This period of time will go down in history and this book should be essential reading in years to come as we look back.

Anthea has written a captivating, detailed account of nursing through Covid-19 pandemic. Despite working non-stop Anthea has managed to write a diary that is informative and well observed - I don’t know how she found time to do so! Everyone on the frontline has and continues to do a remarkable job of looking after all who require their help. Having nursed in cardiac and intensive units myself during The Troubles in N. Ireland, I can empathise with her and all concerned-Nursing is a wonderful vocation that is rewarding, but can be- as in the pandemic- very stressful and emotional. Well done to everyone on the frontline!

A fascinating glimpse into life in a hospital over the last two years. All the horrors and grief are here with nothing left out. Our nurses deserve our fulsome thanks for all they have done and are continuing to do.

I'm sure that most people will love this book but it wasn't what I expected so it missed the mark for me. I had thought it would almost be like casefiles and stories of people's lives etc but it wasn't. Maybe I need to pick this up at a different time when I know what to expect. It was well written but just not what I was looking for at the time.

While interesting to read all the medical information and stories there were a lot of sections and stories repeated in this book. In the end I'm afraid I found the cake and biscuit references boring as just took away from the importance of the stressful hard work everyone was going through

The world needs this book and hopefully it will tell the generations to come what the real impact of Covid was.
I felt every page and was quite emotionally whilst reading it. Please believe that everything Anthea Allen has written about is a true reflection of events.
I am not a nurse but I was asked to help out on an ITU where I work. I spent a couple of night shifts working alongside qualified staff. They didn't have enough staff to cover the patients. Recording observations and running errands. All in the dreaded PPE. I came home emotionally drained. The people that work in critical care
and ITU are doing this day in and out. These are the people that need to be recognized for their efforts in helping to combat Covid-19. They are the ones that need our awards in the Queens honors list.

Please read this book. It shows all that is good about human nature. The people that go above and beyond.

Thank you Anthea Allen for bringing forward your memories that need to be recorded for prosperity .

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC