Belly Woman: Birth, Blood and Ebola, the Untold Story

By Benjamin Black

Winner of the Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing 2023

'This book will stay with me for years.' ADAM KAY, author of This Is Going to Hurt

'Black puts a human and profoundly humane face on what it's like to be a doctor.' FORBES

'A brilliant, painful and honest book. Read it.' MARY HARPER, BBC Africa Editor

'Benjamin Black has the most amazing gift for telling a story. I could not put the book down.' VICTORIA MACDONALD, Channel 4 News

Now updated and expanded with new material, this award-winning memoir returns with fresh insight into one of the world's deadliest public health crises.

In May 2014, as Sierra Leone struggles with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, a new, invisible threat emerges: Ebola.

Obstetrician and humanitarian Dr Benjamin Black finds himself at the centre of the outbreak. From life-and-death decisions on the maternity ward to impossible moral dilemmas in Ebola Treatment Centres, every moment becomes a crossroads where a single choice could mean the difference between survival and catastrophe.

Blending the pace of a medical drama with the insight of investigative reportage, Belly Woman is a powerful memoir of courage, compassion and resilience. Drawing on Black's firsthand experience, it explores the devastating impact of the Ebola epidemic while reflecting on the enduring challenges of global health, women's healthcare and humanitarian medicine. Its themes resonate just as powerfully in the wake of COVID-19.

Compelling, moving and unforgettable, Belly Woman is essential reading for anyone interested in narrative medical nonfiction, global health, humanitarian work and the extraordinary people who risk everything to save lives.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1806771675
• ISBN13: 9781806771677
• Release Date: July 2027
• Publisher: Wilton Square Books
• Length: 300 Pages