Frankie

Frankie is the second of James Essinger's biographies that I have read recently (the first being Charles And Ada) and I appreciate these opportunities to learn more about the lives of important women of science. It turns out scientific history is not quite so male dominated as I had previously believed and, yes, I do recognise the irony of a male author opening my eyes to this! Together with Sandra Koutsenko, Essinger has written a fascinating biography of Dr Frances Kelsey, a woman recognised for her dedication and perseverance in America and whom I now feel should be far more widely known!

I remember in my childhood that a man with very short arms, one of the thalidomide babies from some twenty years previously, lived just along the road from my family. Therefore I was aware of the aftermath of this medical disaster from quite an early age, but it wasn't until I read Frankie that I realised just how much I didn't know about how it came about and, most shockingly, how many years passed before thalidomide's destructive effects were recognised. It's probably a sad sign of the times that I wasn't particularly surprised by the drug companies' lack of care or sense of responsibility at any point though.

In Frankie, Essinger and Koutsenko discuss the creation of thalidomide, its European marketing, and the fluke of chance which allocated its USA approval to Dr Frances Kelsey rather than to any other FDA official who might just have rubber stamped the application. They incorporate information from all around the world together with letters to and from the FDA, excerpts from Frankie's own memoir of the events, and later interviews and recollections to give an insightful and compelling account. This book certainly doesn't read like a dry history and, with the benefit of hindsight, I could understand just how important Frankie's careful deliberations were. It was nice to see her superiors exhibiting such good faith in her judgement too - especially in an era when women's intellectual powers weren't always so well recognised!

I wish I had had the opportunity to read this biography thirty years ago when making my choice of study subjects at school! I think the very readable story would be as fascinating to teenage readers as it was to me, and younger me would have been so inspired by Frankie's example. (Older me is also inspired, but not enough to go back to school!) I am, however, now eagerly anticipating further books from Essinger and Koutzenko telling the stories of more should-already-be-famous women!