She thought her destiny was already written, a brilliant juridical career, but Roberta Jenner Cole (R.J. in the novel) discovered in awful circumstances that she inherited a mysterious ancestral gift : the faculty to feel the coming death when holding someone’s hand. She becomes a doctor, teaches at the university and contributes to the familial planning as well. R.J. discovers a tough reality: obsession of rentability, inequality of cares for rich and poor. Upset by the failure of her marriage and threatened by the anti abortion leagues, she chooses to work in a small town of Massachusetts. There, she discovers a new rhythm, the environment of nature, and the overwhelming job of doctor. Soon, she will meet a new love with David, a widower who lives with his daughter Sarah. Nevertheless, the most terrible ordeal is to come: a tragedy that will leave her with her self, with her liberty, and her loneliness.

This book is just as captivating as the first two ones: you are not disappointed and even ask for more. Once again, Noah Gordon chose the right words and his sensibility offers a true framework of the medical world in the United States. It is all the more interesting so as we can take advantage of his testimony and apply it to our own society to bring out the similarities. We can use this trilogy to emphasize the gears of the society from the Middle Age to now: the fortunate evolution of the medicine, the comfort of our homes, the commodities of services, and above all the reign of the wealthiest.