The Application of Pressure

Tash and Joel are career paramedics, coming to the rescue of Adelaide residents of every class, culture and age. In a job where every day can bring death and violence, they maintain their sanity through a friendship built on black humour. But as the daily exposure to trauma begins to take its toll, both, in different ways, must fight to preserve their mental health and relationships - even with one another. How much pressure can Tash and Joel handle, and what happens when they finally crack?

With each chapter revolving around an emergency - some frightening, some moving, some simply funny - THE APPLICATION OF PRESSURE is as tense as it is engaging. Digging beneath the shocking surface of gore and grit, Rachael Mead lays bare the humanity of emergency services personnel and their patients.

Masterfully written, THE APPLICATION OF PRESSURE is a breathtaking and deeply human debut novel that reveals not only the trauma of a life lived on the frontline of medicine, but also the essential, binding friendships that make such a life possible.

Rachael Mead is a poet, writer, and arts reviewer living in South Australia. She has an Honours degree in Classical Archaeology, a Masters in Environmental Studies, and a PhD in Creative Writing. She is the author of four collections of poetry: The Flaw in the Pattern (UWA Publishing 2018), The Sixth Creek (Picaro Press 2013) and the chapbooks Sliding Down the Belly of the World (Wakefield Press 2012) and The Quiet Blue World (Garron Publishing 2015). Rachael has published widely with her work appearing in Best Australian Poems, Meanjin, Westerly, Cordite, Island, Southerly and many other publications. In 2019 she was awarded a residency in northern Italy, as part of an AP/NAHR Eco-Poetry Fellowship.

Tash and Joel are paramedics, and they love their work. But as the constant exposure to trauma begins to take its toll, both, in different ways, must fight to preserve their mental health and relationships. This breathtaking and deeply humane debut novel reveals not only the trauma of a life lived on the front line of medicine, but also the essential, binding friendships that make such a life possible.

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