A Heartbeat Away

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

This potboiler set in an urban hospital may be predictable and shamelessly manipulative, tugging at the heartstrings with Christmas Day miracles and cuddlesome children who are victims of abuse--and yet it's consistently entertaining. Moreover, Rogan succeeds in writing from the point of view of black characters, although she is white. Thomas Graystone, the black emergency room director of Brooklyn's Mercy Hospital, is diligent and highly competent. Will the attending physician, Daniel Bergman, lure him into setting up a lucrative private practice? The devoted staff, which gamely copes with a daily deluge of trauma, includes Alice Straugh, the devoted, compassionate nurse whose parents gave $15 million to the hospital and are embarrassed by her lowly occupation, and Crow Durango, the black housekeeper whose position at the bottom of the hospital hierarchy seems to render her invisible. Crow, however, has a secret past, and it's about to ensnare Dr. Graystone. And then there's Dr. Elias, who has an uncanny ability to spot critical medical lapses. But wait--hasn't he been dead for 15 years? Rogan ( Cafe Nevo ) overcomes her soap-opera plot with her spirited storytelling. Graphic, spiced with wit and relayed in short, urgent sentences, her romance is an improbable success. Film rights to MGM.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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.

This lively romantic comedy is set in the emergency room of a Brooklyn hospital. Crow Durango, the emergency room's housekeeper, is able to save two patients because a ghost doctor, whom only she can see, diagnoses them and instructs her to call for help. Crow's work performance, and her interest in jazz, attract the attention of Dr. Thomas Graystone. To date her, the doctor crosses the whole gamut of class barriers, causing consternation to his family and staff. Meanwhile, stalwart and sensible emergency-room nurse Alice Straugh struggles to gain custody of an abused child who has been a patient at the hospital, thus bucking a system that follow an unwritten rule of awarding custody of black children only to black adults. Rogan's ( Saving Grace , LJ 4/1/91) strong, realistic dialog balances the fantasy element of the story, and the plot moves right along. For most public library collections.
- Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.