The story is told from the point-of-view of a 45-year-old doctor, Esmerald Thorne, who is the bastion of the small-town medical community in which he resides. His patients love him and he loves his patients. But if you read between the lines you also get to see that he might have a bit of a "god complex," because he is a man of science who thinks himself slightly superior to the mere mortals he treats. Of course, with hindsight, and knowing that the book has a strong religious message to impart, it's clear that Stuart ...
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The story is told from the point-of-view of a 45-year-old doctor, Esmerald Thorne, who is the bastion of the small-town medical community in which he resides. His patients love him and he loves his patients. But if you read between the lines you also get to see that he might have a bit of a "god complex," because he is a man of science who thinks himself slightly superior to the mere mortals he treats. Of course, with hindsight, and knowing that the book has a strong religious message to impart, it's clear that Stuart Phelps wants to cut her doctor character down a peg or two. She gives him a more human side by having him fall desperately in love with Helen, a woman 12 years his junior. ("My accident held me a prisoner for six weeks. But my love put me in chains in six minutes.") And after a short courtship the pair marry and later become parents to a son. Dr Thorne describes himself as being "chloroformed with joy." Then the cracks in their marriage begin to appear. Dr Thorne is an irritable man and he begins to find Helen irritating. He cannot understand why she frets so much about their poorly son. He dismisses the baby's constant crying as nothing more than teething problems. And then one day, after a tiff with his wife, he storms out and is involved in a fatal horse and carriage accident. I had been dead twelve hours before I found out. The rest of the book revolves around Dr Thorne coming to terms with his new life in the "afterlife." He begins to realise that he might have been a good human doing good things in the human world, but his lack of faith has left him slightly diminished in the world of the dead. He doesn't quite fit in and struggles to comprehend that all his success counts for nothing in this new place. Good luck, good looks, good nerves, a good income, an enviable reputation for professional skill, personal popularity, and private happiness -- these things had struck me as so wholesome that they must be admirable. Now it was as if, in the act or fact of dying, I had moved a step or two, and looked over the edge of the bright shield. Further on Dr Thorne meets a young boy in the afterlife and is devastated to discover that it is, in fact, the son he insisted was healthy. Now he begins to learn about humility -- and fatherhood, and what it is like to live a woman's life in which child-rearing and domesticity is the central focus.
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Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
