Alanna Skuse

Alanna Skuse
The Surgeon, the Midwife and the Quack
How to Stay Alive in Renaissance England
with Kate Harris

Alanna Skuse ventures into the bustling medical marketplace of Renaissance England. A world of travelling surgeons, prosthetics craftsmen, faith healers and snake oil merchants. There’s the domestic healer, always ready with tonics and elixirs to provide for her ailing neighbours; the expert midwife, called upon when the physician and surgeon failed; the trusted apothecary, his shop stocked with remedies from across the globe and the pioneering work of herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper.

By the 16th and 17th centuries, a medical revolution was afoot. Education was being formalised. Surgeons and scientists like William Harvey and Andreas Vesalius were documenting the intricacies of the human body with even greater skill. The remarkable birth of Renaissance medicine had begun.

‘A meticulously researched and deliciously detailed book brings a vivid cast of characters out of the shadows.’ – Victoria Shepherd.

Alanna Skuse is a literary scholar, historian and author with a focus on stories, about medicine, bodies and Renaissance England.

She will be in conversation with Kate Harris, an old friend of Cuckfield Book Festival.