I loved Sonia Henry’s first book ‘Going Under’ so I was looking forward to reading this one which is a medical memoir about her time as a GP in some of the remotest parts of Australia.

Sonia writes with honesty, heart and humour and raises some uncomfortable truths about the lack of resources and medical care in these remote locations and the challenges the GPs that go there face trying to do what they can with what they have got.

This book is a wonderful journey through someone’s life and asks the reader to think about their own circumstances. I appreciate the author sharing so much and pushing herself to experience life in the dirt!
I would say that readers will feel better for reading this amazing story, The diversity, the loneliness and of course, the personal growth, we can all relate to how the book unfolds.
I’m always in awe of the Australian people, culture and vastness of the Outback. A doctor in a small country town is so much more than a doctor, often decisions need to be made quickly and accurately and trust is earned slowly.
It’s definitely not easy to get the balance right when you’re relying on yourself, especially with the struggle of cultural barriers.
I would recommend you read this well written book and learn from the author’s experiences and adventures.

Thanks so much to Allen & Unwin, NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

“I am 5000 kilometres from home, and 1500 kilometres north of Perth. I am about to drive hundreds of kilometres, alone, with a phone that might die, through the most ancient part of the world, which may or may not have phone reception anyway. I haven’t driven a car for twelve months, and I don’t know how to change a tyre. I have nothing on me aside from an old stethoscope and a suitcase full of ill-considered clothing.”

Put Your Feet In The Dirt, Girl is a memoir by Australian doctor and author, Sonia Henry. Not yet thirty-five, a published author, and on the cusp of qualifying as a GP, Sonia exits what turns out to be a bad relationship with a manipulative cardio-thoracic surgeon. Her escape to Europe foiled by COVID 19, she heads to a small mining town in Western Australia’s desert where she will be the only doctor.

“I didn’t leave Sydney because, as a medical professional, I had a keen interest in serving remote Australia, or due to a particular passion for the health of First Nations Australians. Back then, at that very low point, it was for entirely selfish reasons that I ran away. Remote areas can attract saviour types, friends of mine who live out there have told me, but I can assure everyone that the only person I had any intention of saving, in the beginning, was myself.”

Over the next twelve months, she meets many good and decent souls, makes firm friends, and sees some incredible places. There are some hiccoughs with new quarantine regulations:
“‘Do you think I can arrest you for getting food?’
‘You tell me. You’re the policeman!’
‘I’ll turn a blind eye just this once,’ he says generously. ‘But don’t do it again.’”

She has to battle with poor connectivity in telehealth programs, before she is even able to treat patients face to face. As a single white female doctor, she encounters some bizarre (and often amusing) requests, but she finds herself providing at least as much psychological care for her depressed patients, as medical care, all with insufficient equipment and resources.

In the Pilbara, she comes to realise is that, despite the obscene profits made by the mining companies, only a miniscule fraction is spent on the physical and mental health of the mining employees. She is expected to provide care under extremely challenging circumstances, with very little support. Sufficiently severe cases, emergencies, depend on an under-resourced Flying Doctor Service to get them to better care, with delays of hours or days often being the norm. Frustrating and sometimes heartbreaking.

From there, after a break at Broome, Sonia heads to Central North West NSW, where she learns that, despite their dire need, the First Nations people only ever get second (or third) rate health care. As politicians pontificate about Closing the Gap and Welcome to Country, the lack of resources available to anyone living remote from the coastal cities, demonstrates that this is merely lip-service.

After a fleeting visit to her parents’ home with a newly adopted pup, in remote Northern Territory Sonia discovers why doctors stay for such a short time: doctors are sent to these isolated communities without experience or training in their special needs; language problems hamper communication with patients; solutions are devised that don’t help those with the problems; non-First Nations staff seem more intent on ticking boxes than giving effective care.

Government legislation on First Nations issues results in the quality of living is so appalling that people become desperate and violence ensues, making living there as a single white female doctor dangerous, “finding myself in places where sleeping behind a cage is widely seen as normal, even desirable.”

“There are the good people, who are overworked and undervalued; and there are the sociopaths, the borderline criminals, the self-righteous bullies and the mentally unhinged, who gravitate to the positions no one else wants, entrench themselves and contribute in no small degree to the malaise that haunts Indigenous communities. Sorely lacking are recognised training programs for people who aspire to work in a community, or screening criteria to weed out the mad, bad and incompetent who prowl the grey zone of Indigenous service delivery”

As Sonia tries to find herself by what seems like “just driving till the road ran out” she concludes “You can feel beauty and suffering simultaneously in this place.”

She has some unique or unexpected experiences: bad spirits plaguing her dreams are seen off by an aboriginal healer; she learns to shoot; she wonders if an array of unusual blood results will be the foundation of a ground-breaking research article; she meets a ringer with a taste for Russian literature; she gets to visit a cattle station; she treats an unusually infected dog-bite; she attends a Tupperware party; and in Broome, her glass front door explodes.

Often laugh-out-loud funny, at times reflective, always insightful, Henry’s memoir raises some uncomfortable truths for white Australian. A thought-provoking read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Allen & Unwin.

It is hard to know where to start in reviewing this book because there are so many different elements to it so here goes.
From a biography perspective we get to know the person behind [book:Going Under|45755736]. Sonia is a doctor in her mid-thirties and is feeling lost in around the time COVID hits. She has a book under her belt, a medical qualification and a broken heart. She decides to get out of Sydney and try out being a GP in rural Australia.
The books takes the reader from the Pilbara, to the remote west of New South Wales and into the Northern Territory. Here is where I became invested (as someone who work in the health system). Sonia often finds herself in these places as the only doctor for hundreds of miles. The stories that she recounts of poor health, deprivation and neglect are truly heartbreaking. In the remote parts of Australia the gap is far from closing between white privilege and the reality faced by displaced First Nations people suffering multigenerational trauma and horrific health outcomes.
This is the first time I have read a book and thought this HAS to be a TED talk - if you read this Sonia please consider it!

‘So you wouldn’t go out there?’ I ask. She looks at me as if I have turned green. ‘Are you kidding? As a solo female? With no experience in that kind of medicine? No way in hell.’

So begins a story from an excellent storyteller. It’s difficult to write this review as the topics covered are so broad and diverse, however, I shall try my best hoping that readers will walk away inspired to read this gem of a book. In essence if I had to sum it up, I would say Sonia writes about some harsh truths many Australians most likely are unaware of and that then is reflective upon self truths and the tales we tell ourselves.

‘With a destination in mind, there’s a goal and a road, and challenges and hurdles and life to be lived on the way.’

On one level this is an exquisite and eye opener report into remote Australia and that alone makes this requisite reading. Confronted with the remoteness of the Pilbara, far west New South Wales and of course the great Northern Territory, Sonia arrives at these places and more often than not, finds herself the only doctor for miles around - hundreds of miles around! The stories she then goes on to share will seem as if from another country but they are not - neglect and far worse of our First Nations people, where the gap between the ‘haves and have nots’ is increasing at a rapid and sorrowful rate. Questions are raised on how to fill this ever increasing chasm with the understanding that only by connecting to the outside will we allow ourselves to connect to the inside.

‘Everyone always wants to be somewhere else. I was always like that, too: there was always somewhere else to be, someone else to meet, another horizon to conquer.’

Sonia’s descriptions of the vast, remote and wondrous expanse of the Outback is awe inspiring, as if she had somehow gone back to the beginning of time itself. ‘People talk about the power of the land. Because the land is alive, here, speaking to me.’ Living this way forced her to be in the present moment, ‘I am nothing but a speck, a whisper of a life, crossing over a power and history I can’t put into words. I have nothing but the present moment. That’s what the earth does to me. Every plan, every worry, every feeling I have is insignificant compared to this.’

To be a solitary woman and experiencing this is yet another remarkable feat. ‘I thought I had to see the world to find myself, but all I really had to do was put my feet in the dirt of this enormous land, and get lost enough to learn the truth. And the truth is this: there are so many things bigger than me that I have been humbled completely. With that truth comes freedom. And in the freedom of humility, comes the chance to live a truly meaningful life.’

Sonia’s writing is eloquent, her story to tell so very worthy of being heard. Do yourself a favour and make sure you read it and don’t forget to put your feet in the dirt!

‘Someone said to me once, Stevie,’ I tell her, ‘that the best thing you can do in trying circumstances is to put your feet in the dirt and see what happens after that.’










This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Put your feet in the dirt, girl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A HUGE thank you to NetGalley and @allenandunwin for providing an advance copy in return for my honest review.

I loved Sonia Henry’s first book ‘Going Under’ and this book was no exception. In this book we come to learn about the stress of being a GP in remote communities during Covid while facing the struggles that come with, the lack of resources and the elements.

I really enjoyed this book, I always admired doctors and all health professionals but this book really is thought provoking and encourages the reader to to ‘Put their feet in the dirt’

I don’t like to rate memoirs, as they are so personal but I can say that I think this is an excellent book.
I previously read Sonia Henry’s fictionalized story ‘Going Under’, so was very keen to read her next book.
Having just come out of a damaging relationship, Sonia makes the decision to work as a Dr overseas but Covid slams the world shut and her plans are destroyed. She then decides to work in remote Australian locations as a GP.
Her first location is far into the WA Pilbara region on a mining community and then various First Nation communities in NSW and NT. This book shows a great divide between the wealth of mining companies and the government departments, where it seems it’s just important to get the boxes ticked.
I found Sonia’s take on things honest, sometimes funny, sometimes sad and also angry, to think that so many places in Australia are lacking basic resources.
I had an idea that this was the case in a lot of places but it was also an eye opener for somewhere like Broome.
Entertaining and educational, thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to review.