Open Heart
by Gregory D. Williams
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Pub Date Jan 14 2021 | Archive Date Dec 14 2020
Grand Canyon Press | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles
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Description
Life is fleeting. Love is a gift.
A historical novel set in 1970s Arizona, OPEN HEART is a roman à clef about life and love and finding one’s own true path.
Gene Hull is whitewashing the trunks of Arizona citrus trees when he spots a beautiful girl and falls instantly in love. The girl is shy and vulnerable and distant. But when Gene finally breaks through her reserve, a date at a wave park turns into a near disaster, and Gene must call on the one person he can always rely on—his doctor father.
Although the girl survives and Gene wins her over, what will happen when they leave for college? Is she truly “the one,” or will distance drive them apart?
Intent on a medical career, Gene heads off to Cal Poly. When an emergency phone call from home blows a hole in Gene’s freshman year, his grades tank, and he bobbles the ball with the love of his life.
She’s gone. Out of his life forever. Not only that, but he’ll never get into med school on grades alone.
Hoping to improve his chances of admission, he arranges to spend the summer trailing a famous heart surgeon. But can Gene, trying to live up to his father’s legacy, turn his summer in the “Heart Room” —an operating theater of chilling cold, bone saws, and macabre humor—into an experience that would make his father proud?
If you like novels where family life is complicated and parents’ expectations trickle down into their children’s lives, then you’ll love Gregory D. Williams’ quiet and intensely powerful novel about becoming a man.
Advance Praise
“In matters of the heart, a single lapse of judgment can prove fatal. In this wise and tender novel, a young man finds out if he can live up to his father’s reputation and his own expectations of himself. Greg Williams is a terrific writer!”
—Ron Carlson, author of Return to OAKPINE
“In the tradition of great physician writers like Chekhov, William Carlos Williams, and Walker Percy, Dr. Greg Williams proves himself to be a master chronologist of both emotional and physical matters of the heart. With a diagnostician’s keen eye for telling details, he brings the novel’s scenes into vivid life. He shows his beautifully drawn characters the same empathy I am sure he once showed his patients. Sharply honed as a scalpel, OPEN HEART is mesmerizing and profound, a superb novel that is guaranteed to bring pleasure and a deeper understanding of the human condition to those who read it.”
—Daly Walker, MD, author of SURGEON'S STORIES
“An actual heart beats in this novel from the first line to the last. Make no mistake about it, with care and grace, and an urgency you’ll feel on every page, Greg Williams has written a beautiful and evocative novel about a young man’s singular and authentic quest to make meaning of life.”
—Billy Lombardo, author of THE MAN WITH TWO ARMS
"Gregory D. Williams does an exceptional job of making sure Gene is the kind of universal character that appeals to a large audience. He understands love at a deeper level, learns that sometimes ambition is not enough, and finds out that you need courage as well as passion to fulfill your dreams. OPEN HEART is a gentle coming of age story that leaves readers wanting more, yet gives them a sense of comfort as they reach the end."
—Ravia Tanveer for Readers' Favorites
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781951479107 |
| PRICE | $16.99 (USD) |
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