The Holistic Doctor

Elaine Earhart works at the New York Metropolitan Hospital as a hematologist and oncologist. The always diligent doctor is caught off guard when the recently hired Marcellus has a good outcome in one of her cases using an alternative approach: offering attention to the suffering wife of the patient. He leads Dr. Earhart to reconsider her methods and competence, even if she tries to avoid it.

The truth is that much of Elaine's daily life is spent in efforts to maintain the conventional image of success she idealizes. A voluptuous, confident woman; a successful doctor in a successful marriage. This is the way she found to be in control. However, the tension instilled when Marcellus challenges her opinion of herself turns into a point of rupture for Elaine to collapse. Her marriage has been in shambles, extramarital affairs no longer satisfy her need for validation, and the addiction to pills has been aggravating her bipolar disorder. On top of her fragile mental health, a product of her involvement in the suffering of her patients, she still has to figure out why the holistic doctor seems so familiar to her.

In the wake of Elaine's self-destructive spiral, we learn more about Peter's exploration of his buried desires, Marcelus' search to uncover his past and to find his brother, and about the threads that connect them to the hypnotherapist Helena. Such enigmatic bonds, explained by deeply repressed memories, build a narrative that takes the reader by the hand through a dark alley. Chance may seem to be the culprit of these happenings, but upon careful inspection, the reader will realize that fear and desire can be forces of great power, even if unconsciously.

A hospital, a space for healing, lands itself perfectly for major questions to manifest themselves: the vices and virtues of a human being, the several possible meanings of the word "cure", the will and the fears involved in staying alive. But human issues of equivalent magnitude such as control, surrender, freedom, sexuality, and instinct are also explored when Elaine follows Marcellus into a swing house, in his very first day of work. This book tells the story of doctors, agents of care, on their own journey in search of what it means to be alive.