We ask so much of our doctors.

To heal. To trust. To care. To listen.

To tell a man he might be dead tomorrow. To help a man who doesn’t want to live.

To look into a parent’s panicked eyes as their tiny daughter fights for every breath.

To watch a 103-year-old woman slip away from a life well-lived.

Doctors know our deepest secrets, our private worries and our most vulnerable moments. But they listen to all of us, and under their gaze we are all equally worthy of help.

34 Patients is the breathtaking and uplifting memoir of a doctor who dares to look closer at a crowded waiting room, and value each soul and story he encounters.

Through stories of the patients he has helped and lost, and those who have changed him forever, Dr Tom Templeton weaves a profound and moving portrait of humanity, asking us to treat all with compassion.