Admissions

by Henry Marsh 288pp, W&N, £16.99, ebook £8.99

It must have been an exacting task to follow Do No Harm, Marsh’s eloquent 2014 bestseller about life as a neurosurgeon, but his second memoir pulls it off. More self-critical, brooding on his mortality, he interleaves visceral details of brain surgery with memories of his childhood. Marsh also vents contempt for targets, budget cuts and bureaucracy in the NHS, and the problem of over-treatment. In his transportative prose, we find moments of great sadness and impeccably timed comedy. Jessamy Calkin