Girl meets boy, finds love, and her life is transformed forever, but not in the way anyone expects.

Maggie Johnson is a twenty-seven-year old fledgling medical doctor struggling to get through her internship at ‘Our Lady of the Golden Arches,’ a busy charity hospital in Spanish Harlem; Bobby is a twelve-year-old ward of the state suffering from incurable cancer. They meet in the ninth month of Maggie’s internship, at a time when she is physically spent, emotionally drained, and uncertain if she wants to continue down the path her father—the renowned orthopedic surgeon and chief architect of her life—has laid out for her. Bobby’s courage and verve are as much of a balm for the rash of Maggie’s problems as her warmth and compassion are a balm for his; with Bobby in her life, the hours seem less long, the fatigue relents on occasion, and even the pressure from her father is easier to deal with. But when Bobby’s state-appointed guardian is pressured, against Bobby’s wishes, to change his code status to Do Not Resuscitate, Bobby’s life and Maggie’s new-found contentment—not to mention her career—hang in the balance.

Peter Hogenkamp