Making the Rounds: Defying Norms in Love and Medicine

What was it like to survive an illegal abortion, come out as a lesbian, and train to become a doctor in the late 1960s and early ’70s—before Roe v. Wade, before Title IX, and in a largely homophobic nation?

In this unflinching and riveting coming-of-age memoir, Patricia Grayhall chronicles her journey from believing she is the only lesbian in Arizona to dipping her toes into dating in San Francisco, attending medical school in Salt Lake City as one of only five women in a class of one hundred, and completing an internship as the only woman in her cohort in Boston. Battling sexism in a male-dominated profession, she plunges into a life that is never boring—and certainly never without passion.

Tossed around in the rough seas of medical training, chronically exhausted and emotionally drained, Patricia chafes against the toxic masculinity of the culture of medicine and yearns for the same care and support her male colleagues receive from their wives and girlfriends. But while the sexual revolution and women’s movement in 1970s Boston celebrate female eroticism, they provide few models for moving beyond desire and sustaining a healthy relationship with a woman—Patricia soon discovers that maintaining a loving, stable relationship is not easy.

This book, named one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best 100 Indie Books of 2022, is the story of how Patricia navigates these stormy seas without signposts to reach the shores she seeks—often battered, but never broken

“The author writes with a sense of blunt reality and warm humanity . . . The struggles, deeply felt emotions, and coming-of-age triumphs make this memoir touching and personal...”

—Kirkus Reviews, starred review



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