Maggie Leffler, Diagnosis of Love

Diagnosis of Love

Maggie Leffler

Delta, Mar 2007, $13.00

ISBN: 038534046X

She believes her mother's death several months ago brought her life into perspective; her twin brother Ben thinks otherwise. The first step on her journey begins twenty years ago when mom ran off to medical school in Grenada. Dr. Holly Campbell knows her life is in shambles since mom died as she fails in love and currently is angry at her patients at St. Catherine's Medical Center in Pittsburgh for being ill even as she logically knows how insane that sounds. However, it is patient Clara Storm who brings perspective talking about herself to Holly that she cannot be well until she leaves Pittsburgh.

Following the revelation, Holly takes a residency at the Royal County Hampshire Hospital in Winchester, England. However, the States seem to have followed her or preceded her to this remote hospital as an orderly Edwin Clemens from Misty Creek Elementary is there and soon after Ben's fianc e Alecia arrives almost as if she is running away. Finally, her mom's lover from two decades ago Simon shows up to meet her. All have demands on her time, but it is she who came to England with her mom's suitcase who will learn to live over this year abroad.

This is a well-written character study of a confused woman struggling to find herself and in some ways this is a coming of age story. Holly is terrific as she feels lost even as she achieves her prime goal of becoming a doctor just like her mom was. Readers will appreciate her efforts in England as she learns what life is all about through the demands of others with their needs and those of others who teach her it takes a "village" to live life.

Harriet Klausner