‘How To Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy’ is Published

Grey's Anatomy on ABC
(Image credit: ABC)

How To Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy, by Lynette Rice, is published by St. Martin’s Press Sept. 21. Grey’s Anatomy has had 17 seasons on ABC so far, and the book offers “the first inside story of one of TV's most popular and beloved dramas,” according to St. Martin’s, which notes that How To Save a Life is unauthorized. 

Season 18 of the medical drama starts Sept. 30. Shonda Rhimes created Grey’s Anatomy and Ellen Pompeo stars. 

St. Martin’s calls Grey’s Anatomy, which is an oral history, “a cultural touchstone.”

“It introduced the unique voice and vision of Shonda Rhimes; it made Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh and T.R. Knight household names; and injected words and phrases into the cultural lexicon, such as ‘McDreamy,’ ‘seriously,’ and ‘you’re my person.’ And the behind-the-scenes drama has always been just as juicy as what was happening in front of the camera, from the controversial departure of Isaiah Washington to Katherine Heigl’s fall from grace and Patrick Dempsey's shocking death episode. The show continued to hemorrhage key players, but the beloved hospital series never skipped a beat.”

The book has 320 pages. It is averaging 3.45 stars out of 5 at press time on GoodReads. 

Lynette Rice is editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly. How to Save a Life is her first book. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.