The Mystery of Breathing

Dr. Maggie Claymore is a leading neonatologist at a bustling Boston hospital who works with the smallest and sickest patients: premature babies so ill that other doctors might give up on them. Her life is full of the challenges and the ethical conundrums that arise every day on the highest-tech edge of medicine. In her forties, childless by default, supremely confident, she knows her exact place in the world. Maggie's orderly life begins to unravel when she gets an anonymous note calling her ethics and reputation into question. At first she is able to dismiss the charges, but when her accuser goes public - posting malicious signs around the hospital implicating her in a child's death - she finds herself mired in personal and professional hell. With everything that she has and everything that she is thrown into doubt. Maggie must fight for herself even as she fights for the lives of her tiny patients. Maggie's metamorphosis from fearful to indignant to self-doubting is complex and viscerally powerful. The Mystery of Breathing is not only a page-turner but a compelling and poignant portrait of a woman trying to come to terms with her life decisions.