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Table of Contents
About The Book
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER
In this “essential work that provides lasting insights and lessons for the individual and society” (Jerome Groopman, MD, New York Times bestselling author), a young pediatric surgeon and mother reveals her dramatic, cathartic diary, written as she worked on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic at one of New York City’s busiest hospitals.
For many of us, the experience of the peak pandemic was eerily incongruous. We were sequestered in our quiet homes but reminded of the devastation by the never-ending ping of news alerts. Dr. Cornelia Griggs’s experience was altogether different. A pediatric surgery fellow in New York City, she was entering the final victory lap at the end of nine grueling years of training. She was set for a big graduation celebration and looking forward to spending some real time with her husband and kids. Then came COVID-19.
Initially, Griggs encouraged her friends and family not to panic. However, as mysterious cases began showing up in the hospital, and then hospital supplies started disappearing from shelves, she couldn’t hold back the feeling that this was going to be worse than she had thought. She wrote a startling op-ed in The New York Times called “The Sky Is Falling” that went, for lack of a better word, viral. The piece was read by over a million people, and Griggs appeared on CNN.
Having once aspired to be a journalist, Griggs found that the only way to make sense of what she was witnessing around her and maintain her sanity was to keep a diary. The Sky Was Falling is her day-to-day account of what most of us were grateful to only see in the news—the sharply increasing case numbers, the dwindling supply of respirators, the lack of clarity on how to treat this new disease. Harrowing, deeply personal, and page-turning in the way of the best medical memoirs, it tells the story of healthcare professionals who went beyond what they thought they were capable of to heal their patients, and themselves.
In this “essential work that provides lasting insights and lessons for the individual and society” (Jerome Groopman, MD, New York Times bestselling author), a young pediatric surgeon and mother reveals her dramatic, cathartic diary, written as she worked on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic at one of New York City’s busiest hospitals.
For many of us, the experience of the peak pandemic was eerily incongruous. We were sequestered in our quiet homes but reminded of the devastation by the never-ending ping of news alerts. Dr. Cornelia Griggs’s experience was altogether different. A pediatric surgery fellow in New York City, she was entering the final victory lap at the end of nine grueling years of training. She was set for a big graduation celebration and looking forward to spending some real time with her husband and kids. Then came COVID-19.
Initially, Griggs encouraged her friends and family not to panic. However, as mysterious cases began showing up in the hospital, and then hospital supplies started disappearing from shelves, she couldn’t hold back the feeling that this was going to be worse than she had thought. She wrote a startling op-ed in The New York Times called “The Sky Is Falling” that went, for lack of a better word, viral. The piece was read by over a million people, and Griggs appeared on CNN.
Having once aspired to be a journalist, Griggs found that the only way to make sense of what she was witnessing around her and maintain her sanity was to keep a diary. The Sky Was Falling is her day-to-day account of what most of us were grateful to only see in the news—the sharply increasing case numbers, the dwindling supply of respirators, the lack of clarity on how to treat this new disease. Harrowing, deeply personal, and page-turning in the way of the best medical memoirs, it tells the story of healthcare professionals who went beyond what they thought they were capable of to heal their patients, and themselves.
About The Author
Anelise Tubinis
Dr. Cornelia Griggs is a triple board-certified pediatric surgeon. She completed medical school at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she graduated with Alpha Omega Alpha honors. She completed her adult general surgery residency and surgical critical care fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she currently practices. She is a graduate of Harvard College and earned a certificate in health policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Her writing has been published in The New York Times and many top medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine.
Product Details
- Publisher: Gallery Books (March 12, 2024)
- Length: 304 pages
- ISBN13: 9781982168506
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Raves and Reviews
“A thoroughly absorbing read: Vividly told, dramatic, goose-bumpy, gripping, and terrifying. Dr. Griggs brings us onto the wards—and into her own mind—as she and her fellow doctors engage in battle against the virus.”
— Leslie Stahl, 60 Minutes correspondent
“Pediatric surgeon Griggs shares her frantic experiences during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic in this poignant debut memoir . . . Interspersed throughout are gripping passages about performing complicated surgeries on young patients and flashbacks illuminating Griggs’s path to becoming a surgeon. Her well-calibrated combination of polemic and personal history will keep readers glued to the page.”
— Publishers Weekly
“As a doctor who worked through that terrible spring of 2020, I was familiar with the story Cornelia Griggs tells in The Sky Was Falling, and yet I tore through this raw and riveting book in one sitting with my heart in my mouth. Unsparingly honest, The Sky Was Falling will surely be a classic among the growing body of Covid-19 narratives.”
— Suzanne Koven, MD, author of Letter to a Young Female Physician and Writer-in-Residence at Massachusetts General Hospital
“In eloquent prose, Dr. Cornelia Griggs recounts her experiences on the front line of the Covid pandemic. Her unique perspective—melding the personal, as a young mother, and the professional, as a skilled doctor—both deeply educates and powerfully elevates the reader. Covid is still with us, and there will be other epidemics in the future. The Sky Was Falling is an essential work that provides lasting insights and lessons for the individual and society.”
— Jerome Groopman, MD, New York Times bestselling author of How Doctors Think and Recanati Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School
“This gripping memoir of life during the pandemic inside one of New York’s greatest teaching hospitals – NewYork Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center – is as brave as it is moving. The Sky Was Falling has it all – the lack of masks and attempts to censor doctors who spoke out, an ER doctor who took her own life, a legendary transplant surgeon who almost died, and the gladiators of health care who fought to save their beloved city. Griggs’s rigor and mission are inspiring.”
— Marie Brenner, author of The Desperate Hours: One Hospital's Fight to Save a City on the Pandemic's Front Lines
“A recommended purchase . . . a remarkable insider's view . . . this debut author’s writing style and fast-paced story will appeal to readers interested in a behind-the-scenes look at hospital operations and personnel during the COVID pandemic.”
— Library Journal
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- Book Cover Image (jpg): The Sky Was Falling eBook 9781982168506
- Author Photo (jpg): Cornelia Griggs Anelise Tubinis(0.1 MB)
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