Olivia Campbell is a journalist and author specialising in medicine and women; her work has appeared in The Guardian, the Washington Post, New York Magazine and The Cut, among others. This is her first book.
'A fascinating, absorbing, and inspiring account of three women who set out to become doctors at a time when female doctors were desperately needed but hard to find. By overcoming obstacles of professional discrimination, personal heartaches, and societal suspicions, these women realized their dreams and changed the world' - Nina Sankovitch, bestselling author of American Rebels 'Olivia Campbell's Women in White Coats is a lovingly rendered, joyfully expressed history of extraordinary medical women. With a storyteller's flair, Campbell chronicles their struggles, setbacks, and stridently hard-won triumphs across decades and continents. I emerged from the book both humbled and inspired' - Rachel Vorona Cote, author of Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today 'An engrossing portrait of a transformative moment in Victorian medicine, when women doctors demanded the right to heal and be healed. Their battle was collective, and their hard-won triumph is ours. Women in White Coats is a timely reminder of just how many hands it takes to move mountains' - Claire L. Evans, author of Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet 'The uplifting story of three friends ... who became the first women to earn medical degrees. Faced with obstacles at every turn, it's a story of single-minded resilience' - Stylist 'Resolute Elizabeth, self-effacing Lizzie, publicity wooing Sophia: these trailblazers were on a radical quest for nothing less than equality, and as well as the slog and loneliness, Campbell's intensively researched book captures some of the thrill ... paints a rounded picture of each woman's loves and losses, showing how intimately their private lives shaped their professional' - Hephzibah Anderson, Mail on Sunday 'The story of three Victorian women's triumph over male prejudice in the medical profession... genuinely well-researched...excellent research' - Leyla Sanai, The Spectator