A Heartbeat Away: A Novel - Hardcover

Rogan, Barbara

9780688115821: A Heartbeat Away: A Novel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688115829 ISBN 13: 9780688115821

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1993

Determined to lead two separate lives, one as the daughter of wealth, the other as a nurse, Alice Straugh finds her divided world bridged by the love of a courageous child

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From the Publisher:

7 1.5-hour cassettes

From Kirkus Reviews:

Rogan's fourth novel (Saving Grace, 1991; Cafe Nevo, 1987, etc.)--a comforting story set in a hospital and surrounds in a Manhattan ghetto neighborhood--comes with plenty of ER action, a slow-fuse courtship between a head doctor and a cleaning lady, a young nurse who crosses a racial barrier (the brotherhood beat is worthy if unsubtle as a bass drum, Howard Fast-style), and even a ghost. No one at Mercy Hospital notices Crow the cleaning woman; no one even knows that she's the widow of the famous tenor sax Blue Durango. Seems that Crow can no longer face a world where she's noticed, and lives only for her tiny son Joey in the project with her adopted mother. Meanwhile, Dr. Thomas Graystone, head medico at Mercy, whose social-climbing mother had dumped their relatives from the projects, doesn't really ``see'' Crow. But then Crow begins to deliver medical bulletins--life-saving--from a mysterious doctor. He turns out to be a very dead Dr. Elias Glass, who is malingering this side of the Gates because he thought he killed a child. Then Dr. Graystone does notice Crow when she shows up at a jazz gig with Blue's old pals. While Dr. G. tries (in vain) to court Crow, nurse Alice rescues an abused black kid from an abuser and tries to adopt--and also finishes the career of a medical sadist. You can be sure it all turns up roses, even for Elias, who heads for....? A soggy but essentially cheerful novel, cinema-bound. (Film rights to MGM) -- Copyright �1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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