On Call: Stories from my life as a surgeon, a daughter and a mother

Stories of life, death and bravery by a Kiwi female general surgeon


‘Ruthlessly honest and viscerally beautiful. The book I wish I had read as a medical student.’ Emma Espiner

It’s all in a mad day’s work: the good, the bad and the crazy. From a man who swallowed fishhooks to a patients playing pranks, emergency operations in the wee hours, constantly being mistaken for a nurse, and holding hands through silent goodbyes, this is a book about the strange, messy, intense world of surgery.

When Ineke’s parents in Samoa fall ill, she is torn between her roles as a surgeon, a daughter, and a single working mother. Are the sacrifices of a life in scrubs worth it? Laugh-out-loud and sobering in equal turns, On Call is a memoir from inside the operating room and everything it takes to survive.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Imprint: HarperCollins NZ
Publication date: 06/03/2024