Jacaranda to publish Rao’s 'richly satisfying' Lady Doctors

Jacaranda is poised to publish Lady Doctors by Kavitha Rao, which looks at six historical Indian women who broke the mould and became doctors, to publish 10th August 2023.

Daquan Cadogan at Jacaranda negotiated the rights deal with Jayapriya Vasudevan at Jacaranda Literary Agency for Lady Doctors, The Untold Stories of India’s First Women in Medicine. 

The title was first published in India in 2021 by Westland Books, with UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding India and the Indian sub-continent) sold to Jacaranda Books.

The synopsis reads: “Lady Doctors brings to the centre the forgotten stories of six radical women from the 1860s to 1930s who despite being firmly bound in the fetters of family, caste and society, fought to escape and become doctors. This is a book about extraordinary women who defied the idea that they were unfit for medicine by virtue of their gender.”

On the release of her debut, Rao shared: "Lady Doctors is a revolutionary book about India’s first women doctors from the 1860s to the 1930s, who crossed oceans, left husbands, defied society and endured threats to study medicine. Jacaranda’s diverse and unconventional history as an independent publisher made it the obvious choice to publish Lady Doctors in the UK.”

Cadogan added: “Lady Doctors uncovers the extraordinary stories of six women, who twice suffered grave injustices. What struck me about these women was their fortitude in the face of unrelenting misogyny and how vastly different these women were in many aspects. This is an important book, made great by Kavitha Rao’s dry wit and admiration for these brave women.”