NEVER DO HARM
The second novel in the Mirren Jones creative writing partnership
About Never Do Harm . . .
Hugh is a successful hospital consultant, arrogant, egotistical and hugely ambitious. He is admired and loathed in equal amounts by his colleagues, and humours his long-suffering wife Anne. His lifelong friend Alan is a hardworking General Practitioner, valued by his patients, if not by his partners and staff. He’s on the cusp of burn-out, and increasingly cynical about life, yet still loved by his magnetic wife Simone – a French sculptress of bronze figurines.
Like all doctors, they took the Hippocratic Oath, swearing to ‘Never Do Harm’, and keep it for 30 years.
But in private life must the value still apply? What if temptation arises? Can betrayals remain secret? Who is being harmed?
The novel sweeps from France to Edinburgh, largely set in the Scottish National Health Service in the new millennium, a challenging time of intense organisational change.
By turns dark and humorous, this psychological drama explores the meaning of ‘harm’ – both intended and unintentional, and begs the question: How far can you ever trust anyone?
Cover image 'Titania' from a sculpture by Christine Baxter of Court Robert Arts