Sir Harold Gilles was born in New Zealand in 1882. He did very well in school, eventually obtaining a place as an ENT doctor at the medical practice of Sir Milsom Rees after graduating from medical school at Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge. During World War I, he attended a dentist who was developing techniques to repair damage to jaws due to poor dental health as well as war wounds. Gilles was very interested in pursing that himself, learning as much as he could from other surgeons. He wound up actually convincing the military to form a facial injury area at the military hospital. He really went to work on the soldiers who were severely disfigured from gas attacks and other injuries received during the war. He was knighted for his services, and continued a private practice as well as teaching and speaking engagements.

I looked up some pictures of his surgical work, and I am glad to say that plastic surgery has certainly evolved and new techniques and scientific advancements have made the surgeries even better. I cannot imagine how glad these patients must have felt to be able to eat again, or go out in the street without feeling overly self conscious that they were missing half a face. He worked really hard learning the best ways to help people, and his contributions to the field of plastic surgery are astounding. I also thought it was noteworthy that he also did one of the first gender reassignment surgeries and helped develop those techniques. Gender reassignment surgery is something that a lot of people have utilized throughout the years, and it is important to mention that in light of recent bills and laws against people seeking this surgery. It is nice to see that there are medical professionals, past and present, that genuinely do want to help people and give them the best care they can.

As far as this book goes, I loved it. I hate that it took me this long to get around to it, but I am glad that I finally did. I have been looking forward to reading it for a long time. I have this book on Audible, and I believe it was around 6 or 7 hours to listen to it. The author of this book, Lindsey Fitzharris, is a very kind person, with whom I have had several lovely interactions with on Twitter. She is always very kind to readers, and shares some really interesting historical things. I very much enjoyed her other book, The Butchering Art, and was hopeful that this one would be as good...it was! The research for this book was impeccably done. I learned a lot about the history of plastic surgery, and some things about World War I that I didn't know. Anytime a book furthers a readers' education on a topic, it is a success of some degree. I think this book was a resounding success all around. I hope that she publishes another medical history book soon, because I am certainly looking forward to it!