Making the Rounds
Defying Norms in Love and Medicine
Multi-Award-Winning Memoir
“An honest, heart-rending memoir about finding oneself."
– KIRKUS Reviews, Starred
"Grayhall skillfully depicts the problems confronting any ambitious person in search of stable romantic relationships...those professional challenges resonate throughout this fast-paced, immersive, and weighty memoir that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the hardships of being true to yourself." – BOOKLIFE by Publishers Weekly
About Making the Rounds
She knew the truth about herself. The world wasn't ready to hear it.
In 1960s America, being different wasn't just difficult—it was dangerous. When a teenage girl realizes she's a lesbian, she faces an impossible choice: embrace her authentic self or conform to society's crushing expectations. Desperate to fit in, she attempts heterosexuality with devastating consequences.
But acknowledging her truth becomes her salvation. Coming out gives her unexpected courage to shatter another barrier: defying the male-dominated medical establishment to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. In lecture halls and hospital wards at a time when women medical students are rare and barely tolerated, she fights for both her education and her right to exist as herself.
The 1970s also brought second-wave feminism and promises of liberation, yet the reality remains treacherous. Being openly gay still means risking everything—career, reputation, safety. Finding love proves its own battleground, with each relationship teaching hard lessons about trust and vulnerability when the world refuses to recognize that life as legitimate.
This is the story of one woman's refusal to disappear. Of choosing authenticity over acceptance. Of discovering that the courage to be yourself can transform not just your own life but pave the way for those who follow.
“The author writes with a sense of blunt reality and warm humanity”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Fast-paced, immersive, and weighty memoir that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the hardships of being true to yourself.”
—BookLife Reviews
“A story like Grayhall’s from a woman of her achievements is a vital contribution to our community and history.”
—Katherine V. Forrest, author of Curious Wine
Where to Buy
Praise for Making the Rounds
"Memoirs like Grayhall's are important to us. The larger culture has owned the narrative forever and rendered us inconsequential if not invisible. Our untold stories need to be out there, and a story like Grayhall's from a woman of her achievements is a vital contribution to our community and history." – Katherine V. Forrest Author of Curious Wine and The Emergence of Green
"An uplifting journey of coming out that reads like a fast-paced medical drama." – Radclyffe Retired Surgeon, Author, and President of Bold Strokes Books
"Making the Rounds is a wonderful book that flows from page to page keeping its readers engaged in Patricia's story and wanting to know where it would go next. Inspiring, heartfelt, and brutally honest at homes, this is a book that will give women and those who care about them, the strength and motivation to persevere through the trials and tribulations of life." – Seattle Book Review
“Well-written, fast-paced, and inspiring. Patricia Grayhall’s memoir is an authentic, accurate, and brave portrayal of her lived experience in times that were exciting and expansive, but often confusing, challenging, and uncharted.” – Margaret Dozark, MD, Emergency and Internal Medicine Specialist
"If you have ever felt marginalized or told you could not pursue your dreams because you are the wrong sex, ethnicity, or class...this book will inspire you to find the courage." – Laura Munson New York Times best-selling author of This is Not the Story You Think It Is
“Making the Rounds is an important piece of history served up in a crisp writing style, entwined with beautiful sensory details. Grayhall’s point of view is candid, self-deprecating, and genuine. She is obviously accomplished, but what comes through is her openness and honesty—qualities rarely seen in similar works. This is a book you do not want to miss.” – Morgan Elliot Multi-Award-Winning Author
“Making the Rounds is a fast-paced, inspiring, and accessible true story of a young lesbian’s struggle to enter the male-dominated profession of medicine in the ‘70s while concurrently learning, through a series of heartbreaking and endearing encounters, to be her authentic self in a loving relationship with another woman. I highly recommend this book—a great read exploring issues that are as relevant today as ever.” – Robin Tyler Producer, Activist, Comic
“Patricia Grayhall has much to teach us in this well-paced and deeply humanizing memoir of what it means to seek both belonging and love—and to find both, always in the most surprising of ways.” – Susan Meyers Professor of Creative Writing Seattle University
“Female professionals—gay or straight, doctor or other—owe a debt of gratitude for the tribulations women like Grayhall endured to hew the path we now traverse. Reverberating with personal angst and professional certitude, Making the Rounds is about life. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s ever lived one.” – Adele Holmes MD and author of Winter's Reckoning
“Patricia Grayhall’s writing style is seamless in the way it flows gently across the pages. She is a very talented storyteller, weaving a narrative filled with fortitude, courage, and passion as she faces the uphill battle to be her authentic self in an environment of patriarchal supremacy and homophobia. I thoroughly recommend this wonderfully written book to anyone.” – Alexis Hunter Author of Joy Lansing A Body to Die For
"Patricia Grayhall has written a vital and thrilling memoir." – Steve Almond New York Times author of Candyfreak and Against Football
"Making the Rounds is an intense, well-written, page-turner. Get a copy!" – Sophia Kouidou-Giles Author Sophia's Return
“In Making the Rounds, Patricia Grayhall has granted us access into her world, and into the life of a complex woman we will not soon forget.” – Sharon Dukett Author of No Rules: A Memoir
“Entertaining, informative, and important, especially to those in the process of coming out, Making the Rounds is a superbly written memoir that will find a permanent niche in the LGBTQ+ literature.” – Grady Harp Poet and Author of War Songs
“Making the Rounds is smart, profound, thought-provoking, and all-out engagingThis memoir is a must-read as a reminder to all of us to guard our rights and freedom and to never devolve into a culture of hate that is a vestige of a primitive stage of evolution.” – Vincent Dublado Reader's Favorite 5-Star
"In my experience as a memoir writing coach, it takes the courage to bare your soul, tell the truth, and, above all, have a story to share to which strangers can relate because their untold secrets may be similar to yours, or at least as difficult to tell. That is exactly what Patricia Grayhall has done with Making The Rounds." – Viga Boland Reader's Favorite 5 Star
