The Cole Trilogy: The Physician, Shaman, and Matters of Choice (229 page)

During the writing of this novel a number of physicians shared with me their very limited time, answered my questions, and loaned me books and materials. Among them were private practitioners—Richard Warner, M.D., of Buckland, MA; Barry Poret, M.D., and Nancy Bershof, M.D., both of Greenfield, MA; Christopher French, M.D., of Shelburne Falls, MA; and Wolfgang G. Gilliar, D.O., of San Francisco.

I received help also from academic and hospital physicians, including Louis R. Caplan, M.D., chairman of the Department of Neurology at Tufts University and Neurologist-in-Chief at New England Medical Center, Boston; Charles A. Vacanti, M.D., professor of anesthesiology and chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA; and William F. Doyle, M.D., chairman of the Department of Pathology, Franklin Medical Center, Greenfield, MA.

I received information from Esther W. Purinton, R.N., Director of Quality Management at Franklin Medical Center, and from midwife Liza Ramlow, CMW. Susan Newsome of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts talked with me about abortion; so did Virginia A. Talbot, R.N., of Hampden Gynecological Associates and the Bay State Medical Center, Springfield, MA., and Kathleen A. Mellen, R.N. Polly Weiss of West Palm Beach, FL, provided reasoned insights about the anti-abortion movement.

As usual, I found help in my hometown. Margaret Keith furnished
anthropological information about bones; Suzanne Corbett talked with me about horses; EMTs Philip Lucier and Roberta Evans refreshed my memories of a hilltown ambulance service; and Denise Jane Buckloh, the former Sister Miriam of the Eucharist, OCD, provided insights into Catholicism and sociology. Farmer Ted Bobetsky and Don Buckloh of the U.S. Department of Agriculture told me about husbandry. Don Buckloh also made available to me the books on bee-keeping that had belonged to his father, the late Harold W. Buckloh of Coldwater, OH. Attorney Stewart Eisenberg and former Ashfield Police Chief Gary Sibilia advised me about prison sentencing, and Russell Fessenden provided information about his late grandfather, Dr. George Russell Fessenden, an early country doctor.

Roger L. West, DVM, of Conway, MA, talked with me about bovine obstetrics, and dairy farmer David Thibault of that town allowed me to witness his delivery of a calf.

Julie Reilly, objects conservator at the Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE, provided details about dating old ceramics, and I received help from Susan McGowan of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Old Deerfield, MA. I am grateful also to the Memorial Libraries at Historic Deerfield, and to the staffs at the Belding Memorial Library in Ashfield and at the libraries of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

For their advice and support I thank my literary agent, Eugene H. Winick of McIntosh & Otis, Inc., Dr. Karl H. Blessing of the Droemer Knaur Publishing Company in Munich, and Peter Mayer and Robert Dreesen of Penguin Books USA.

Last, I thank my family. Lorraine Gordon is skilled at fulfilling multiple roles—wife, business manager, literary guide. Lise Gordon, my valued editor as well as my daughter, lived with this book before it was delivered to my publishers. Roger Weiss, computer maven as well as son-in-law, kept my technology current and working. Daughter Jamie Beth Gordon generously allowed me to share with my characters and readers her creative passion for heartrocks (the term Heartrocks is legally protected by her and may be used only with her permission). Michael Gordon, my son, offered valued advice on several levels, and when emergency surgery
kept me from accepting the James Fenimore Cooper Prize in person, he attended the awards ceremony in New York and delivered my remarks.

This book is theirs, with my love.

Matters of Choice
is the third book of a trilogy about the Cole family of physicians. The first two novels in the series,
The Physician
and
Shaman
, have won literary prizes and are international best-sellers. The trilogy has occupied my life for thirteen years, and it has taken me from the eleventh century to the present day. I’m grateful I was able to go on such a fascinating voyage.

—Ashfield, Massachusetts

February 16, 1995

Noah Gordon
has had outstanding international success.
The Physician
, soon to be a motion picture, has been called a modern classic, and booksellers at the Madrid Book Fair voted it “one of the 10 best-loved books of all time.”
Shaman
was awarded the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for historical fiction. Both of these books, and five of the author’s other novels—
The Rabbi, The Death Committee, The Jerusalem Diamond, Matters of Choice
, and
The Winemaker
—are published in digital formats by Barcelona eBooks and Open Road Integrated Media. Gordon’s novel,
The Last Jew
, will also be published digitally in the near future. He lives outside of Boston with his wife, Lorraine Gordon.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this eBook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The Physician
Copyright © 1986 by Lise Gordon, Michael Seay Gordon and
The Jamie Gordon Trust
Cover design by Mario Arturo
Image
©
1990, Photo Scala, Florencia

Shaman
Copyright © 1992 by Lise Gordon, Michael Seay Gordon and
The Jamie Gordon Trust
Cover design by Random House Mondadori
Image
©
Layne Kennedy/Corbis

Matters of Choice
Copyright © 1996 by Lise Gordon, Michael Seay Gordon and
The Jamie Gordon Trust
Cover design by Random House Mondadori
Image
©
Jamie Grill/Age Fotostock

Bundle cover designed by Andrea C. Uva

ISBN: 978-1-4532-7656-3

This 2012 eBook published by:

Barcelona Digital Editions, S.L.
Av. Marquès de l’Argentera, 17 pral.
08003 Barcelona
www.barcelonaebooks.com

This 2012 edition distributed by Open Road Integrated Media
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New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com