'This book reconstructs the experience of both women surgeons as well as women patients - a unique combination of perspectives that is highly relevant for the history of surgery, but also for present day discussions.' Thomas Schlich, McGill University, Montreal 'Claire Brock provides a fascinating and pioneering study of early women surgeons and their intersections with the changing practice of surgery. This is an important addition to the literature on women doctors, and a must read for all those interested in women's complex relationships with medicine.' Hilary Marland, University of Warwick 'With the entry of women into Victorian surgery in Britain, gender roles and occupational identities were reshaped. In this important work Claire Brock shows how women variously adopted the masculine culture of nineteenth-century surgeons and feminised a traditional male practice. Sensitivity to nuance is the key to what was happening here and Brock displays it in abundance.' Christopher Lawrence, Emeritus Professor of the History of Medicine, University College London '... what an impressive story Brock has to tell. It is important to know what these early women surgeons did and the obstacles they overcame. I was especially taken by Brock's portrait of the eagerness of these women to cut open bodies, to try to solve the problems that major surgery promised to solve.' Marjorie Levine-Clark, The American Historical Review `This book reconstructs the experience of both women surgeons as well as women patients - a unique combination of perspectives that is highly relevant for the history of surgery, but also for present day discussions.' Thomas Schlich, McGill University, Montreal 'Claire Brock provides a fascinating and pioneering study of early women surgeons and their intersections with the changing practice of surgery. This is an important addition to the literature on women doctors, and a must read for all those interested in women's complex relationships with medicine.' Hilary Marland, University of Warwick `With the entry of women into Victorian surgery in Britain, gender roles and occupational identities were reshaped. In this important work Claire Brock shows how women variously adopted the masculine culture of nineteenth-century surgeons and feminised a traditional male practice. Sensitivity to nuance is the key to what was happening here and Brock displays it in abundance.' Christopher Lawrence, Emeritus Professor of the History of Medicine, University College London '... what an impressive story Brock has to tell. It is important to know what these early women surgeons did and the obstacles they overcame. I was especially taken by Brock's portrait of the eagerness of these women to cut open bodies, to try to solve the problems that major surgery promised to solve.' Marjorie Levine-Clark, The American Historical Review