A Fight in the Doctor's Office

By Cary C. Holladay

Fiction.In Spring, 1967, Jenny Havener, a young newlywed in Washington, DC, finds herself deserted by her husband. Her parents, ashamed and eager to find him, take Jenny on a search through the Virginia countryside. Their travels lead them to the rural community of Glen Allen. Jenny doesn't find her husband, but she meets a disabled African-American baby with whom she falls in love on sight. She abandons her search for her husband, parts way with her parents (who worry she is becoming unhinged) and settles in Glen Allen for the purpose of spending as much time as possible with the child. She settles into an abandoned furniture store and defies the community's growing suspicions about her reasons for being there. As her obsession about the baby grows, a battle of wills erupts between Jenny and the child's guardians--his elderly, impoverished great-grandparents--leading to Jenny's attempts to claim the baby as her own.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1424331110
• ISBN13: 9781424331116
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Miami University Press
• Length: 135 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Masterful

I wasn't sure if I would like this novella-- but I found it to be absolutely riveting. The story is compelling and the resolution to the story is wonderful. The book evokes and time and place. Holladay does a wonderful job of transporting the reader to Virgina in the 1960's. If you've ever longed for a connection to someone you barely now, then you will find this book remarkable and touching.

Another great Virginia writer

I'm on the wait list for this, but if it's anything like her novel Mercury or her short story collection Quick Change Artist (a finalist for Library of Virginia Fiction award), it'll be a joy to read. Quirky but believable characters with intriguing dilemmas that resonate with you long after you've finished the book. Not your run of the mill gratuitous shocker for shock's sake.