The Queen of Hearts

December 1, 2017
A secret from two doctors' pasts may put what they cherish most under the knife: their friendship.Emma, a trauma surgeon, and Zadie, a pediatric cardiologist, have survived big and small things together: medical school, breakups, horrifying stomach bugs, losing patients, and the deaths of loved ones. Since they first met at summer camp, the two seemingly opposite women have been best friends: Emma is the unapproachable, perfectly maintained counterpart to warm, trustworthy Zadie. Over the years, Zadie and Emma have grown together as doctors, mothers, and friends--sometimes knowing the other's heart better than their own. Written from both women's points of view, the novel oscillates between a crucial year from medical school and the present. In their third year of med school, the women experience a tragedy that upends their lives in ways they cannot begin to fathom. The unforeseen consequences ripple out to the present when their former chief resident, Nick Xenokostas, re-enters their lives. Zadie and Nick's complicated relationship forces the women to grapple with a potentially friendship-ending secret. A former emergency room physician, Martin distills medical jargon into digestible metaphors and sets scenes as carefully as her characters scrub for surgery. The dialogue is on the casual side because Martin uses all-caps and some phonetic writing ("Whereygoing?"), but if it sometimes falters, the plot and characters make up for it. When the secret (or secrets) is disclosed toward the end, an unexpected but logical twist adds another layer of grief to the revelation.A book about female friendships that unapologetically wears its heart on its sleeve.

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December 11, 2017
Martin’s debut novel is a medical drama about two friends facing the secrets of their past after the reappearance of the man who broke one of their hearts. Zadie Anson, a pediatric cardiologist, and Emma Colley, a surgeon, live in Charlotte, N.C., and have been friends since college, maintaining their relationship through the ups and downs of parenting young children and working in demanding careers. Nick Xenokostas, who was Zadie and Emma’s chief resident when they were in medical school, moves to Charlotte and joins Emma’s surgical practice. Flashbacks from their alternate points of view reveal events of the year when Zadie and Nick had a brief, tumultuous affair, including the secrets from that year that Emma has kept from Zadie, which could destroy their friendship. With Nick’s reappearance, Emma fears that he might tell Zadie some disturbing truths. Meanwhile, she must weather professional angst when a difficult surgery ends badly, leaving her career in jeopardy. Emotional and difficult to put down, Martin’s excellent story of friendship is shrewdly plotted and contains a cast of flawed, rich, believable characters. The realistic and vivid medical angle (Martin is an ER doctor) adds to the novel’s appeal. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.