Title: DUSTFALL
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Book Description:
Dr Raymond Filigree, running away from a disastrous medical career, mistakes an unknown name on a map for the perfect refuge. He travels to the isolated town of Wittenoom and takes charge of its small hospital, a place where no previous doctor has managed to stay longer than an eye blink. Instead of settling into a quiet, solitary life, he discovers an asbestos mining corporation with no regard for the safety of its workers and no care for the truth.
Thirty years later, Dr Lou Fitzgerald stumbles across the abandoned Wittenoom Hospital. She, too, is a fugitive from a medical career toppled by a single error. Here she discovers faded letters and barely used medical equipment, and, slowly the story of the hospital’s tragic past comes to her.
Dustfall is the tale of the crashing consequences of medical error, the suffering caused by asbestos mining and the power of storytelling.
What attracted me to this book:
I had the pleasure of meeting Michelle Johnston through work
a few years ago, and was excited to hear that she has branched out from
emergency medicine to writing. Being a damn fine ED doctor, I just knew that
her experience would make the perfect basis for a brilliant medical thriller,
and I was not disappointed.
My musings:
DUSTFALL is set in Wittenoom, an abandoned asbestos mining town in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Since 2006, the town’s name no longer appears on any official maps and road signs, as if it had been erased from Australian soil together with its dark history. As a physician, Johnston knows firsthand the terrible legacy of asbestos mining, and the toll on human lives. Her personal experience of being an emergency doctor also shines through in her two main characters : Lou Fitzgerald, a young ED doctor seeking refuge in the abandoned mining town after a medical error ended her career; and Dr Raymond Filigree, who is a doctor working in the town’s small hospital at the time when the mine is still operational.
It is not easy to find Australian medical mysteries based on
the vast knowledge of an author who is also a medical professional – especially
a “homegrown” one from WA. You won’t find any inaccuracies here, and all
medical emergencies the two fictional doctors encounter are so well presented
that I could feel my own adrenaline rush on putting myself in their shoes. As
Johnston delves into Wittenoom’s dark history as seen from the perspective of
one of the town’s physicians, the true scale of the crime committed there
against its residents becomes even more palpable. With a rich cast of
characters you would encounter in a remote Australian bush town, the story made
for compelling reading.
DUSTFALL is the type of novel that showcases how a dual
timeline can add both depth as well as tension to a narrative, and I felt
equally invested in both as the mystery slowly unfolded. Atmospheric, with a
constant sense of tension and foreboding, the story gripped me from the very
beginning and kept me invested until the end. I felt that Johnston beautifully
captured the atmosphere of the remote Pilbara region, an area I have spent some
time in and which is always close to my heart.
Summary:
In summary, DUSTFALL is the type of medical mystery that
only comes around rarely: beautifully written, well plotted and based on the
author’s own experiences and knowledge as an accomplished emergency physician. Set
both in the present as well as exploring one of WA’s darkest chapters in
history, the book made for compelling reading from start to finish. As a health
professional, I appreciated and admired the authenticity with which Johnston
explores both her subjects as well as the challenges presented by the remote
Australian setting. DUSTFALL was a pleasure to read, and I hope to read more
from this talented author in future.
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