Hospitals, with their distinctive smells, acute pain, births, writhing bodies, incessant beeping, endless waiting, cardboard food and never-ending corridors, have fascinated writers for centuries. Edited by the prize-winning author of A Sensory Education and Making Sense of Medicine, this book shares a never-before-told story of hospitals through an unusual collection of objects.

A great deal that matters happens in hospitals – from new life to the end of life. There is also a great deal o...