Cut is a thrilling, provocative novel set against the backdrop of a major Melbourne hospital’s surgical team in the time before #metoo blew the lid off institutionalised misogyny and sexism.
Carla is a young doctor striving to become the first female surgeon at Melbourne’s prestigious Prince Charles Hospital. When a consultant post opens up, she competes with her lover for the job and thinks she can be judged on merit. But an assault after a boozy workplace dinner leaves her traumatised and struggling to cope with the misogyny coming from every corner of her workplace. Recovering her fragmented memories from that night, Carla begins a fight for justice that will shake the foundations of the hospital she loves.
Susan White is a senior doctor and critically acclaimed writer whose previous novel, Take the Shot, was shortlisted for the Readings Young Adult Book Prize and a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable for older readers. Cut is her first work of adult fiction, inspired by the #metoo movement and informed by White’s own experience working in the Australian hospital system for more than two decades.
The novel follows Carla, a first-generation Australian and accomplished young doctor who thinks she can navigate the casual misogyny she encounters in the workplace on a daily basis. She laughs along with the ‘good-natured’ jokes and banter from her male colleagues; she is consistently rebuked by her superiors for mistakes her male colleagues aren’t called out on, and she doesn’t report the inappropriate behaviour both she and other female doctors are forced to endure. Carla knows that to do so wouldn’t make a lick of difference. Prince Charles Hospital is a boy’s club that devalues its female employees, promoting a culture of silence. While troubling, White has painted a vivid picture of the toxic culture that still exists in the hospital system today. As Carla navigates this system, she must ask herself what lengths she is prepared to go to make it as a surgeon, and at what cost?
Written with the relentless pull of a thriller, Cut is a timely and thought-provoking novel that offers readers a searing examination of institutionalised misogyny, sexual assault and violence. This is a gripping, at times confronting, yet ultimately empowering read, perfect for fans of Diana Reid’s Love & Virtue and Yumiko Kadota’s Emotional Female.
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