Thursday, March 23, 2006

Quality of Care


"Quality of Care" is a first novel by Elizabeth Letts, a midwife with whom I worked in an ob/gyn office many years ago.

In truth, this probably is not a book I would have picked up to read, just because it's not the sort of book that I read recreationally. But when my friend, another midwife, was here visiting, she and all of the hospital staff who had known Elizabeth were buzzing about it because, of course, everyone had read it (and my friend Lynn is one of the people acknowledged in the book for having taught Elizabeth about "the quality of care.")

And so I bought it.

I expected it to be good, based on the response from everyone who had read it, and it was. It's the story of Clara, a doctor who is being investigated for an unfortunate tragedy which occurred on her watch, but the tragedy sets off an interesting journey into Clara's past to get answers and to find direction.

This is an easy read, but a real page turner. I discovered that once I was into the story, I couldn't put the book down until I finished.

As soon as I finished, I ordered Elizabeth's just-published second novel, "Family Planning" and am looking forward to seeing if the quality displayed in this first book continues to grow in her second.

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