by Janet Gilsdorf – coming September 25, 2012 from Kensington
In a thought-provoking debut that will resonate with fans of Jodi Picoult, Janet Gilsdorf s novel is a gripping story of a family torn apart by guilt and blame in the wake of childhood illness…
Anna Campbell and her husband Jake successfully negotiate the everyday tangles of life as parents to two little boys. Until the night Anna phones Jake, who’s a surgeon on call at the local hospital, to seek advice about her younger son’s fever. He reassures her that Eddie has merely caught her cold. But next morning, she wakens to a terrible stillness from Eddie’s crib. After rushing him to the emergency room, Anna gets the diagnosis—meningitis. As Eddie hovers between life and death, guilt and blame pull relentlessly at the foundations of Anna and Jake’s marriage and fear spreads through the community. Traveling separate paths through Eddie’s acute illness, Anna and Jake strive to renew their commitment to each other, and to their family, in a powerful novel that is at once haunting and uplifting. A compelling and ultimately heartwarming novel, TEN DAYS is written by a pediatrician and explores timely subjects such as controversy over pediatric vaccines, childhood disease and its impact on a family and a community.
In a riveting debut novel infused with uncommon insight, Janet Gilsdorf draws readers into an unforgettable story of love, heartache, family, and renewal.
Ten Days is a beautifully written and compelling story of the simple, momentary choices that come to shape our lives, of love tested to the limit, and of the myriad small triumphs that can become our greatest joys.
You can read the first chapter here.
Janet Gilsdorf is the author of many personal essays and the memoir Inside/Outside: A Physician’s Journey with Breast Cancer. She is Professor of Pediatrics/Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan and lives with her husband in Ann Arbor. Be sure to visit her website for more information.
