PAIN KILLERS

A young nurse and a cynical doctor find love in this novel set in a 1970s emergency room.

Mary Grace Kelly is a young nurse who has recently left her small town to start work in a big-city ER in Ohio. She soon crosses paths with Dr. David Korn, whom she initially dislikes for his brash, arrogant personality. But David develops a crush on her, and eventually asks her out on a date, which she surprisingly accepts. The pair quickly grows close, but Mary Grace harbors a traumatic secret from her childhood that keeps her from fully letting her guard down around David, especially sexually. She befriends a homeless man, Frankie MacAnnany, and they get an apartment together, with her new roommate becoming a father figure. Frankie also bonds with David’s Uncle Solly. When Mary Grace’s abusive father becomes ill, her sister, Kathleen, demands that she return home to care for him. Mary Grace dreads this and her mental health starts to deteriorate, affecting her relationship with David. Her loved ones devise a plan to spare her a final traumatic meeting with her father. Callaghan’s story is skillfully told in an epistolary format, with letters and journal entries from the main characters. These are interspersed with the ER’s logs and case notes that are wonderfully immersive while still providing room for fully realized character arcs. The ER logs offer great opportunities for gallows humor and hint at the social issues medical workers face. One nurse writes: “What is the sense in what we do? Do we just provide band-aids to cover up the owies of society?” The scheme Solly, Frankie, and Mary Grace’s mentor, Sister Dolores, concoct to save the protagonist stretches credulity a bit. And some readers will wish Mary Grace had come up with her own road map. But the trio’s plan does lead to a believable resolution. Ultimately, this story is sure to please lovers of ER tales who also enjoy romance novels.

A delightful medical drama that’s infused with gallows humor.