03 Jul 2013 00:52:42
Weston's protagonist Nancy is a gynaecologist for whom terminations are just one of the procedures that make up her working day: "In some ways, it is no different to any other kind of surgery. Not easier or harder, not more gory or more disgusting." She agrees with abortion in principle – she's had one herself – and she's extremely good at her job, but then one day in the operating room she freezes. A woman on her table starts to haemorrhage and Nancy just sits there.
Much more complex than a pro-choice or anti-abortion polemic, Weston's novel is the ambiguous examination of a woman whose actions inexplicably contradict her ethics. It's an angle of the debate that's rarely explored – the problem of reconciling a firm belief in a woman's right to choose with the acknowledgment of the brutality of the act this will entail another human performing. No one wants to hear about the grisly details, but Nancy has to live with them, and it's this "crisis of silence" that preempts her breakdown.
Weston's first book, Direct Red, the gripping account of her experiences as a junior doctor, won her both rave reviews and the 2010 PEN/Ackerley prize for best memoir. Dirty Work combines the same perfectly measured doses of compassion, respect for human dignity and straight-talking attention to detail in sparsely elegant prose. Bold, brave, and uncomfortable, Dirty Work certainly isn't for the faint-hearted, but it's a gripping read.
