NUTSHELL

A debut literary novel focuses on a young doctor in Texas.

At the outset of Albedo’s story, the year is 1932. Neva Pettibone, who has endured six stillborn births, is in labor again. The attending doctor is not really a licensed physician at all. Zebulon “Doc” Callaway is a pharmacist who practices medicine illegally. Nevertheless, Doc’s patients are glad to have him. When Neva gives birth, the infant is alive, albeit with a number of health problems. The baby will be named Ivy. She will spend her adult life as a ward of the state. Fast-forward several years, and Doc’s grandson Chase Callaway is in medical school. Chase is a bright young man with a photographic memory. He works part time at Matherville State Mental Hospital, where Ivy happens to live. Readers follow along as Chase experiences highs and lows in his pursuit of becoming a doctor. Whether Chase is dealing with the suicide of a classmate, the death of a patient, an ornery instructor, or simply the fact that he has been awake for one too many hours, he seems determined to come out on top. All the while, he manages to strike up a friendship of sorts with Ivy. Chase’s quest to become a physician proves a spectacularly detailed affair. This is particularly true with regard to medical concepts. Readers will learn about a bilateral syndactyly, a triple valve replacement, and the stresses of a medical residency program. And when Chase has his doubts about both the attitudes of the medical establishment and his own place in it, an insightful portrait is created. But other details can distract readers from the main journey. Many characters, such as Chase’s fellow medical student Porter Piscotel, are provided extensive backstories that do not add much to the main narrative. Do readers need to know about Porter’s time in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets to understand his cocky, no-nonsense attitude? The story is more engrossing when it concentrates on the many mountains Chase needs to climb.

An in-depth, engaging look at the making of a physician.