I have finally gotten to this book that for some reason I kept putting off. This is an account of the scientists who searched for and discovered the reason behind Rh incompatibility between a fetus and mother. This was such a devastating problem to women and their infants years ago. My own family saw infant deaths/prematurity due to Rh incompatibility and even my own father nearly didn’t make it due to being the last in a line of infants that were incompatible with my Rh negative grandmother. I’m truly fascinated by immune-mediated diseases and the treatments that have been developed to combat them. This book was an interesting look at a real problem that is now so easily treated. Thank you the opportunity to read this.
#GoodBlood #NetGalley #ABRAMS

"Good Blood" by Julian Guthrie is a gripping true story about the race to cure Rh disease, a blood disorder that threatened the lives of unborn children and their mothers. The book takes readers on a journey from research labs to hospitals and even into Sing Sing prison, where experimental blood trials were conducted. Through engaging writing and meticulous research, Guthrie celebrates the power of scientific discovery and everyday heroism in improving healthcare. "Good Blood" is an inspiring and uplifting book that provides a fascinating glimpse into the history of medicine and the ongoing quest to improve healthcare for all, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of science, medicine, and human resilience.

This is such an inspiring story! The power that blood has on the world is usually overlooked being that many people don’t think about how lucky they are that their bodies are able to make enough to sustain them without help. This story helps remind all that sharing that gift with others can have a powerful impact on the world.

Tried reading this one and it just was not meant for me. This does not mean that it is not a good book, I just was not in the right place to be reading it and have decided to not try picking it up anytime in the near future.

As someone who is Rh Negative and received the RhoGam injection with both of my pregnancies, I found this a fascinating and heartwarming account of the dedication of numerous people to ensure babies are born healthy. I enjoyed the stories of the scientists involved - the text was not too clinical or dry - as well as the story of James Harrison, the Man with the Golden Arm. A fantastic read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Julian Guthrie's "Good Blood" is an intriguing medical mystery and touching human interest story. If a pregnant woman has RH negative blood and her fetus is RH positive, usually the first pregnancy proceeds normally. However, subsequent pregnancies are risky, since the mother's body has produced antibodies that will harm future babies whose blood contains the RH protein. Even if the baby survives, he or she is in danger of sustaining brain damage, severe jaundice, or other serious complications.

An Australian, James Harrison, was a sickly youngster who, at the age of fourteen, contracted bronchitis that led to a bout of triple pneumonia. In 1951, he nearly died during a pediatric pulmonary lobectomy; a surgeon removed a portion of the boy's infected lung. James pulled through after receiving massive blood transfusions, and to express his gratitude, he became a regular blood donor. Another Aussie, John Gorman was a physician who moved to New York and, along with other pioneers, came up with a protocol that could greatly lower the incidence of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn..

Guthrie explores the groundbreaking efforts of visionaries who persevered, even when their peers dismissed their ideas as unsound. It is fascinating to observe brilliant and creative scientists analyzing complex ideas concerning blood compatibility. The author's humorous and poignant anecdotes shed light on the personalities, challenges, and accomplishments of his large cast of characters. The writing is inspiring and entertaining, although the book could have been smoother and more fast-paced had Guthrie omitted some redundant and superfluous material. Still, "Good Blood" is worth reading for its depiction of remarkable men and women, including James Harrison, John Gorman, Vince Freda (John's friend and fellow researcher), and two dynamos who were crucial to the success of the RH initiative, Nurse Lizzie Thynne and Robyn Barrow. These individuals and others like them deserve tremendous credit for their altruism, commitment, and determination to save innocent lives and prevent needless suffering.

In Good Blood, Julian Guthrie details the race to discover how Rh disease worked and then how to cure it. Following the stories of the doctor researchers as well as one very special donor, Guthrie has created an easy-to-follow narrative for readers.

Rh disease, for those who don’t know, happens when a pregnant woman with Rh negative blood has a baby with Rh positive blood. Her body perceives the baby’s blood as an enemy and launches an immune response. The problem is this immune response endangers all of her subsequent pregnancies. Prior to the development of the treatment outlined in Good Blood, many women would have one healthy pregnancy followed by numerous unsuccessful ones.

For me, Good Blood was at its best when describing the work of researchers to find a cure. I also found it interesting when Guthrie connected it with worldwide events that had an impact on the story, especially the AIDS crisis and 9/11. More than anything, I was particularly struck by how this international effort at immunology is echoed in today’s race to find a vaccine for COVID-19. In a time when there are efforts to question science, I appreciated a book that centred around the altruistic efforts of scientists to find successful cures that completely change lives.

As a reader who appreciates the parts about science the most, I was less interested in some of the personal details Guthrie chose to include about events in the personal lives of some of the key players. I also struggled with some of the old-fashioned, sexist expressions about women that were used throughout the book (e.g., “James didn’t mind having a gaggle of pretty nurses around”, “men of all ages swooned in her presence”). I found them jarring and they made Good Blood feel like a book written many years ago rather than in 2020.

Readers interested in an accessible story about the people involved in a scientific breakthrough will likely enjoy Good Blood.

Thank you to Abrams for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Good Blood tells the story of the race to understand Rh disease and, eventually, find a cure for it. As someone who has Rh negative blood themselves, I felt overwhelming gratitude whilst reading this that there were people who dedicated so much of their life to finding the answers. Thanks to them, I (and others in my position) may be afforded the opportunity to enjoy successful pregnancies.

In regards to the book itself, this is a very well written and enjoyable account. I liked that it shared not only the scientific story, but also considered the more human aspects of such research.

Primarily this book is about the race to find a treatment for Rh disease. Rh disease causes a mother's immune system to attack it's unborn child. Untold number of children died ( stillborn or right after birth). John Gorman along with another gentleman come across an idea to help treat this disease. Trials began and they came up with what is known as the RhoGam shot. It is given to women who are Rh negative. Meanwhile in Australia a young man, James Harrison, is given a life saving blood transfusion that turns his blood into special blood. Once he received that transfusion he promised himself that he would donate blood for as long as he could. And he did. His blood was able to help with treating Rh disease.Millions of babies were saved because of these two men! The author told this story in a way that made it a page turner! Such an amazing book! ⭐
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My sister is Rh negative. And with each of her pregnancies she had to have the RhoGam shot in order to have her babies. Because of these men, I have 2 nephews and a niece, Matthew, Andrew and Morgan!! Thank you to John Gorman and James Harrison and thank you to Julian Guthrie for telling this story!! 📕
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Thank you Netgalley, Abrams Press and Julian Guthrie for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

John Gorman's dogged perseverance to find a cure to Rh disease led to serious breakthroughs in the field. James Harrison's childhood operation to remove part of his lung left him with special blood—blood that he would donate over 1,000 times to help millions of Rh-negative mothers. Although living on opposite sides of the planet, both James and John helped to end the needless death of millions of babies due to Rh incompatibility.

What I Loved About This Book:
Don't know what Rh disease is? No problem. While this book is a fascinating look into how Gorman and other brilliant scientists of his time came to better understand Rh disease, it is by no means a medical manual. Julian Guthrie's clear writing style makes the medical jargon understandable and the breakthroughs cheer worthy.

And while I did learn a great deal about the disease thanks to Julian Guthrie's clear writing style, what I really appreciated about the book was its emphasis on the extraordinary contributions of ordinary people. James was "just" a railway worker who decided to give blood, a decision which has affected countless lives. More than 100 prisoners on Sing Sing volunteered to be test subjects in Gorman's study; there was no guarantee that any of them would come out of the tests unscathed, but they volunteered because they wanted to help save babies. Doris Gorman worked as a phone operator to get through medical school, then practiced medicine while raising four children. John Gorman, a leading scientist in the Rh breakthrough, would be one of her sons. Full of so many other loving and compassionate people, this book made me feel hope for humanity.

What I Didn't Love:
The end of the book seemed to lose some of its steam. The last four chapters could have easily been condensed into two for a less repetitive story. Sadly, I found myself much less captivated by this section than I had in previous parts of the story. Still, the book ended on a high note. It was wonderful to know how both John and James are doing today and the epilogue was an important call to action.

All in all, this book was informational, inspirational reading. Highly recommended!

When I married in the early 1970s I remember my fiance and I needed blood tests to check if we were Rh compatible. I knew it affected our ability to have children.

That is about all I knew about Rh disease. Until reading Good Blood, I have no idea how many people were affected by the disease, how many babies were lost, the depth of grief and despair suffered.

Or of the obsessed doctors who sought a cure over many years, or the 'man with the golden arm" who donated blood 1,173 times, saving 2.4 million babies.

Guthrie's moving history is filled with memorable and remarkable people.

I received an ebook from Publisher's Weekly.

Subtitle: A doctor, a donor, and the incredible breakthrough that saved millions of babies

I received an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Until the late 1960s, one of the major causes of infant mortality worldwide resulted from parents having mis-matched Rh factors, especially babies conceived by Rh-negative mothers and Rh-positive fathers. This book is the story of how a dedicated group of researchers developed a vaccine to combat this problem and how the blood-banking community built a roster of donors with specialized blood characteristics to provide enough blood for use in making that vaccine.


Good Blood focuses on two Australians, James Harrison and John Gorman. Thanks to major surgery during his teens that required enough transfusions to replace his entire blood supply several times, Harrison blood developed some unique characteristics that rendered it unusable for blood transfusions. Gorman was an Australian doctor who relocated to New York City and team with a group of like-minded doctors in an effort to save at-risk babies around the world.

I gave Good Blood four stars on Goodreads. It was an uplifting and inspiring read about the importance of not giving up, but the last few chapters seemed overly padded.

I received an electronic advance copy of Good Blood: A Doctor, a Donor, and the Incredible Breakthrough that Saved Millions of Babies by Julian Guthrie from the publisher (Abrams Press). Good Blood is scheduled for release on September 8, 2020.

This nonfiction book focuses on two of the men who were key to developing a successful treatment for Rh disease. Rh disease affects the babies of women who are Rh negative. Babies who are also Rh negative are fine, as are the first Rh positive babies born to an Rh negative mother. The trouble comes with later Rh positive babies. Antibodies from the mother will attack the red blood cells of the babies, causing anemia and a variety of other symptoms, even possibly death.

One of the two men Guthrie focuses on is Dr. John Gorman, working in New York, who has the idea of treating fire with fire. He faces an uphill battle in convincing the medical community to try his unconventional idea- giving mothers a dose of Rh antibodies to prevent their own immune systems from producing them. The second man is James Harrison, an Australian man who donates blood every fortnite. For him, this is partly just civic duty, but also payback for the massive transfusions that saved his life as a teenager.

We also meet some of the women and other men involved in the discovery and development of the Rh vaccine, including nurses, phlebotomists, other researchers, and future spouses.

The story of the development of this vaccine was inherently intriguing for me, as I am part of the 15% of the world’s population who is Rh negative. I received this vaccine while pregnant with my own children, but never knew the story behind its development. This book is a true history- weaving together the discoveries with the stories that surrounded them. For me, the balance of science and story was a little bit skewed (particularly in later parts of the book). I wanted a little bit more explanation of the science parts (FYI, I am a scientist, so other readers may find the balance perfect!).

Overall, Good Blood was a very pleasant read about a not well known scientific discovery that has saved more than 2 million lives so far. An added bonus of the book was the subtle encouragement for readers who are able to donate blood.

Interesting, warm-hearted, and chatty, this story tells how a way was found to prevent miscarriages and infant deaths due to mother-baby Rh incompatibility through one of the premier researchers and a heroic Australian blood donor who nearly singlehandedly provided the necessary antibodies. Focusing on the personalities draws in the lay reader, while thorough explanations of the science will appeal to more medically and scientifically inclined readers.

An inspirational and captivating story of love, connection, courage and determination to do good in this world. The story follows two different men from differing continents, Dr. John Gorman and a regular donor James Harrison with a common goal in an attempt to save babies lives in the fight against a terrible blood disease called Rh disease. The story takes place across Australia to America. From research laboratories, hospital, blood banks and experimental trials in prison, the brilliant writer Julian Guthrie takes us in an in-depth journey through the path taken in their search for the cure.

I was surprised to have not known much about Rh disease and therefore, was glad to have picked this book up. This was very informative and meticulously researched. Julian Guthrie's writing perfectly balanced the academic and the personal insight into their lives. Science and medical subject matter is never an easy feat in delivering the knowledge to a diverse audience. This was what Julian Guthrie made it possible. Through her diligence in her planning and effort, her writing made it accessible to readers such as myself who aren't too knowledgeable in science and medical subject matter. Most importantly, the author points out how all walks of life are connected and has the ability to make such a great impact in this world. By providing acknowledgement to the medical teams, donors and families, Julian Guthrie highlights the everyday heroism that is necessary in making progress and positive changes and impacts. I enjoyed following the journey of the great Dr. Gorman in his drive, passion and the courage in making medical mistakes, learning from its mistakes and consistently moving forward. The history, characteristics and its intelligent design of the blood was truly fascinating. James Harrison's story absolutely moved me and there were teary moments. I always knew the importance in donating blood but reading about James Harrison's dedication in donating blood was truly eye-opening and brought awareness to the impact a donor can make in another person and families' lives. In conclusion, I believe Julian Guthrie sums it up well why this book is a necessary and meaningful read: "Whether it is Gorman's brilliant mind or Harrison's big heart, Good Blood is about the desire to do something good and lasting in the world." This in itself should speak volume in the reason for picking up this beautiful book.

Thank you to Net Galley and Abrams Press for providing this amazing ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Australian James Harrison has been giving blood since he was 18, started in part from thankfulness in live-saving blood donations during surgery. Meanwhile, an Australian doctor in New York by the name of John Gorman had an idea in the treatment of pregnant women to prevent Rh disease in their babies, often resulting in stillbirths or miscarriages when the mother's Rh negative blood was incompatible with the baby's positive - the first would be fine, but pregnancies afterwards could be impacted.

The author chose to recreate dialog, a technique I admit immediately puts me off because it reminds me of "biographies" I read as a kid that now would be classified under fiction - such as [Carry On, Mr. Bowditch] or [Amos Fortune, Free Man] so I started reading, perhaps, from a hypercritical place. Though I could tell that much of her research was from personal interviews, she never explains in the author's note how such personal conversations or speeches at an event were put together; perhaps the final edition will have a more complete bibliography

Personally as a reader, I was much more interested in medical detail, and thought the choice to focus on both James Harrison and John Gorman, usually switching focus each chapter, muddled up the timeline and made it harder to follow the medical breakthrough that, surprisingly, is complete about halfway through the book. Quite apart from my own personal preferences as a reader, the medicine is made so simple that I found it confusing. As a semi-regular whole blood donor myself, I was really confused as to how James could donate as often as he did, and why the author continuously stressed that Australian blood donations were always volunteer and never paid. It wasn't until well into the book that it's revealed that James's donations were plasma, which made both statements make a lot more sense. A little detail at the beginning about types of blood donation would have cleared that up easily. Besides repeating the fact that Australian blood (plasma) donations are not paid for, the author was repetitive in other ways too. In one instance, in chapter three, a blood donor named Olive is mentioned, who had lost several babies after having one healthy baby girl. Her story is explained as one that James knew. Then later in chapter 7, Olive's daughter Val and James have a conversation in which James learns - apparently for the first time - that Olive has lost seven babies. This time, instead of expository writing it's in a recreated conversation, but it retreads the same ground. I did think that, in the end, Guthrie highlighted James's selflessness and heroism in doing something many of us are capable of: donating blood. The story is there, but the execution left me desiring something more.

Thank you to Net Galley, Julian Guthrie, and Abrams Press for the advanced e-reader copy in exchange for a candid review. This book was about a fascinating topic and the author did a great job setting up the importance of the groundbreaking vaccine that saved so many lives. Unfortunately, the book is too long and technical with too many extraneous and unimportant details. #goodblood #netgalley

I had never heard of Rh disease, despite my interest in all things medical and biological. When I came across this book, I thought it sounded fascinating. It was.

This book tells the story (so far) of Rh disease - a devastating illness where a mother’s body attacks her baby, due to a blood type incompatibility, leading to miscarriages, babies dying, and children born with brain damage. It shows how an effective treatment was found, and how we still don’t understand how it really works.

I found most of this book really interesting, but there were a few chapters that I found really tedious - mostly extraneous (to me) bits of James’s life. However, there weren’t many.

It was so fascinating to read about the initial idea, the frustrations of trying to get funding, the medical trials, the not so legal first use, and the eventual approval by the government of the vaccine. It was also interesting to follow the tale of James’s life, of how he came to have blood that was able to produce so many antibodies for the vaccine. The epilogue was important, there is still much work to be done, and it’s amazing to know that we still don’t understand how the vaccine works, or why James’s blood works how it does, nor have we managed to synthesise the antibodies. There is still so much work to be done on a disease that most of us in the wealthier parts of the world have never even heard of.

I was given a free copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

This book is incredible, the writing style is so flawless in the way I often forgot I was reading about history. This book emphasizes an incredible medical history that has lead to many people being alive today. The scientific background provided made this book easy to follow without the feeling that you're getting lost in a textbook. The good nature of James is influential throughout the writing and the passion for finding the solution to the main problem in this novel is undeniable. The imagery, descriptive language, and the photos included were amazing and transported you to the past, often to the exact moment you are reading about. I would highly recommend many to read this book if you want to learn about a medical discovery that seems overlooked.

From NetGalley: "In 1951 in Sydney, Australia, a fourteen-year-old boy named James Harrison was near death when he received a transfusion of blood that saved his life. A few years later, and half a world away, a shy young doctor at Columbia University realized he was more comfortable in the lab than in the examination room. Neither could have imagined how their paths would cross, or how they would change the world."

Dr. John Gorman was desperate to find out why countless babies were dying in the womb--as mothers' immune systems attacked their own unborn children. Rh disease was devastating families all over the globe. His work would be instrumental in finding the cure. And then there is James Harrison, a childhood survivor himself, who in gratitude selflessly donated his "miracle blood."

This was a wonderful book. I don't tend to read a lot of medical nonfiction, but Julian Guthrie's writing captivates. The narrative flows nicely and is really accessible for those (like me!) who aren't very science-minded. I'd recommend this engaging read to those interested in medical history (Rh disease in particular) or people looking for a human interest story of the best in humanity overcoming one of the worst of its obstacles.

Thank you to Abrams Press for providing this digital copy for review.