WINNER OF THE MEDICAL JOURNALISTS' OPEN BOOK AWARD 2005

Revered and feared in equal measure, John Hunter was the most famous surgeon of eighteenth-century London. Rich or poor, aristocrat or human freak, suffering Georgians knew that Hunter's skills might well save their lives ­but if he failed, their corpses could end up on his dissecting table, their bones and organs destined for display in his remarkable, macabre museum.

Maverick medical pioneer, adored teacher, brilliant naturalist, Hunter was a key figure of the Enlightenment who transformed surgery, advanced biological understanding and even anticipated the evolutionary theories of Darwin. He provided inspiration both for Dr Jekyll and Dr Dolittle. But the extremes to which he went to pursue his scientific mission raised question marks then as now.

John Hunter's extraordinary world comes to life in this remarkable, award-winning biography written by a wonderful new talent.

Prizes

Short-listed for Marsh Biography Award 2007

Wendy Moore has done justice to this marvellous man in a biography packed with gruesome facts and eye-opening perceptions. It is an accomplished achievement and a splendid read * The Times *
Moore's feel for pace and narrative is impeccable. She excels on the nitty-gritty of his work - the carving, digging, slicing and bottling - but makes us understand why these horrors were wonders. She is, at last, the biographer Hunter deserves * Independent *
The primitive operations without anaesthesia, the bitter rivalries and battles, the struggle against snobbery and orthodoxy - all set against a kaleidoscopic Hogarthian backdrop of gin-shops, brothels, elegant drawing rooms, charnel houses and crude operating theatres. This is a truly fascinating read -- Dr Alan Maryon Davis, Writer and Snr Consultant, Guy’s Hospital
Marvellous... There is wit here, without banality; there is scholarship, without pomposity; there is history of the Georgian period that drives you to seek more about that same period - and there can be no greater compliment for a biographer. A classic unputdownable page-turner. It's a winner all round - and now I've finished it, I'm going to start all over again -- Claire Rayner, writer and health adviser
Wendy Moore has written an immensely readable account of one of the most fascinating individuals of the 18th century. A thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining biography -- Patrick McGrath, author of Port Mungo
Always vivid and entertaining... The Knife Man leaves one entranced with Moore's hero and the age in which he lived -- James Le Fanu, Literary Review
Excellent... Moore has helped to pay the debt we all owe to this short-tempered dyslexic healer, who slept only four hours a night and claimed to have dissected some 2,000 corpses * Sunday Telegraph *
Gruesome but fascinating... Not for the squeamish, this visceral portrait offers a wonderful insight into sickness, suffering and surgery in the 18th century. Excellent * Guardian *
Moore's tireless devotion to detail brings the man and his maverick career vividly, compellingly, gruesomely to life... Medicine needs more John Hunters, and biography needs more Wendy Moores * The New York Times *
An extraordinary insight into the experimental, macabre world of a remarkable eighteenth- century surgeon who risked all to learn about the hitherto unknown workings of the human body -- Josceline Dimbleby, author of A Profound Secret

Wendy Moore is a writer and journalist. After working as a reporter for local newspapers she has specialized in health and medical topics for more than twenty years. As a freelance journalist her work has been published in a range of newspapers and magazines, including the Guardian, the Observer and the British Medical Journal, and has won several awards. Having written extensively on medical history, she obtained the Diploma in the History of Medicine from the Society of Apothecaries (DHMSA) in 1999 and won the Maccabean prize for best dissertation that year. She lives in south London with her partner, Peter, also a journalist, and two children, Sam and Susannah. The Knife Man is her first book.