Vital Organs
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Non-Fiction; History; Medicine
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September 2023
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World Rights: Wildfire, Headline
Poland: Wydawnictwo SQN
South Korea: Daewon
From Napoleon's penis to Van Gogh's ear, from Marie Antoinette's teeth to Marie Curie's bone marrow, this book brings together the remarkable stories of body parts that have made history.
We have always used and abused bodies. We've torn them apart, dug them up, experimented on them or taken bits home to display as trophies. Body parts have been used for propaganda in wars and pulled off in punishment. They've answered medical mysteries, been turned into relics and even saved lives.
Now TikTok sensation and medical historian, Dr Suzie Edge, brings us a history of the world's most famous body parts told through its most notable limbs, organs, and appendages, including how Queen Victoria's armpit led the development of antiseptics; why Percy Shelley's heart refused to burn; and the strange case of Hitler's right testicle.
Selected Praise
“Like Edge’s TikToks, Vital Organs is packed with memorable facts, perfectly packaged as conversational anecdotes ... Vital Organs is a bracing adventure and one where our ancestors are not reduced to characters of myth or legend, but real people of flesh and blood. It is through this most intimate dissection that the past is brought so vividly to life.”
“The kind of book that would make history lessons at school so much more exciting and accessible ... Insightful and though-provoking ... [An] incisive book ... that will leave you with a newfound appreciation of the vessel that carries you through life”
