Mr Hammond and the Poetic Apprentice

I’m really enjoying historical fiction at the moment and this jumped out at me. Particularly because it was based on a true story.

John is Thomas’s apprentice, learning all things medical. Thomas sees greatness in him and thinks he will make a good surgeon one day but John’s passion is poetry.

It’s an interesting story about medicine in the past and a tale about how one must follow their own path regardless of money.

It kept my attention and I wanted to keep reading. It also had me researching past methods and why on earth they ‘bled’ everyone.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Mr. Hammond and the Poetic Apprentice is one of those novels that doesn't completely live up to its potential, but is still worth a read. The book begins with the fact that John Keats apprenticed as an apothecary for five years, then did a year of training in apothecary and surgery at a London hospital. But he never became a practitioner, deciding instead to focus on poetry.

Mellany Ambrose—who is herself a general practitioner based in London—has carefully researched what she can regarding that apprenticeship, the apothecary Keats studied under, and the teaching hospital where he trained. Within those constraints, she goes where her imagination directs, addressing a great many topics in the process, among them

• The limits of early 19th Century medicine which relied on treatments like cupping and bloodletting and used toxic ingredients like mercury as well as herbal mixtures.
• The question of how doctors live with their failings—both the cases where they make costly mistakes harming their patients and the cases they simply can't treat at all.
• The pressures of general practitioners, especially of those working in poorer communities, where their skills are always needed, but payment can be slow or nonexistent.
• The tensions between "scientific" treatments and more humanistic treatments.
• The powers that both art and medicine have (and don't have) to improve the quality of life.
• Family tensions at a time when daughters were to be married off and sons were expected to to learn the their fathers' professions and carry on family businesses.
• The "boutique" (my term, not the author's) medicine provided to patients by practitioners focused on income, who treat the hypochondriacal rich with specialty produced like pills covered in gold leaf and follow medical fads that often have no real basis in science.

This book packs in a lot.

At times the writing dragged a bit, and there were moments when the writer declared what characters were thinking, rather than showing it through their actions. But Mr. Hammond and the Poetic Apprentice kept me thinking—and left me wanting to learn more. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

This book tells the story of Thomas Hammond, an apothecary surgeon in a small village, and his two young apprentices: his own son Edward, and an orphan called John Keats. John's heart isn't in the work, he much rather read, and write poetry. He's too soft to do what needs to be done, perform painful surgery on the patients.
The story explores how people are different, and what's important in life.

I loved all the vivid descriptions of country life, the herbal medicine making, and the books that were read by John Keats.
This book is slow-paced, but kept hold of my attention. I read it in a day!

I was drawn to this book purely for the beautiful cover. I didn't even read the description before requesting it. They say not to judge a book by its cover but I'm so glad I did.
Set at a time when bleeding and leeches are the main medicine and it only takes 1 year studying at Guys Hospital London to become a surgeon this beautifully imagined story tells of the poet John Keats early life studying medicine.
The imagery is so vividly discribed you can practically see it infront of you and the characters are well thought out.

I really enjoyed this book.

This was a very good and interesting read. It had alot of true medical history in it along with the fictional tale and Mellany weaved them expertly. I highly enjoyed this.
I just reviewed Mr Hammond and the Poetic Apprentice by Mellany Ambrose. #MrHammondandthePoeticApprentice #NetGalley
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If you were forced to study British literature at all, you know Keats. But have you ever wondered what his life was like before he trained at Guy's Hospital?

This book is beautifully written and delivered so much more than I was expecting. At a time when consumption reigned, apothecaries could do nothing more than simply ease the symptoms of illness. A marvellous example of historical fiction, little facts are actually known about this specific time in Keats' life. Hammond was actually one of the first general practitioners in England, and this story displays the stark reality of medicine in the Georgian era. Above all, it is a tale of duty, family, hope, and learning to see beyond science and suffering.

I sobbed while reading the final chapter of this book. It completely hit me in the face, i started the novel thinking it would be maybe a 3 star, boy was i wrong. Thomas Hammond the apothecary had many lessons to learn at the start of this novel despite his age, and his poetic apprentice John Keats is the perfect one to teach him. I loved the development of their relationship throughout the novel, and loved the two of them individually as characters. The many different familial relationships in the novel gripped me, i loved Eliza of course. I have spoken more eloquently in my video i've linked below.

The realities of 19th century medicine are of course shocking, and putting the reader in an ordinary village to experience what day to day 19th century GPs were treating was very humbling. I love learning something new about the past when i read historical fiction, and i came away with so much knowledge as well as having my heart ripped out.

On Storygraph i've given it a 4.5, but i feel like 4 is too low so i've rounded up here. On storygraph it looked like this is Mellany Ambrose's debut, and i cannot wait to see what comes next. In fact, i'll be first in line.