The Diagnosis of Love

OK, I realize that the pink cover makes this book look like a questionable chick novel. And while the major action does focus on Dr. Holly Campbell's love life, I plowed through it because the characters are so well drawn. Holly especially comes across as very real, even though she's a bombshell doctor on a glamorous tour of England, whose big problem is that two hot men are after her. What keeps this book grounded and human is Holly's hysterical view of life. It's a great book, and I can't wait for the next one.

The title and the subject matter -- a professional woman resolving personal crises -- suggest that the target audience for the book is women. Yet I think that men would enjoy it. So if guys buy it for the women in their lives, both the men and women should read it. The medical scenes are the book's strengths. The extended early scene in the Pittsburgh hospital is insightful, sad, then amusing about how doctors view their patients. This scene artfully contrasts later events at a the hospital in England, where Holly encounters different attitudes toward health and disease. And Holly is never off-duty: being a doctor impacts the entire way that she views what happens around her. Especially striking is a scene in which Holly recognizes the serious medical condition of a close friend; especially amusing is a scene in Scotland when a tourist needs medical attention. The book is a fine addition to literature about medicine. The book is also good at extended scenes, at dialogs that unearth tensions and feelings. One of the best scenes in when Holly has a long meeting with figures from her mother's past; Leffler lets the scene develop gradually, lets the characters test each others' reactions before plunging on. Leffler does not push to get effects. The material about Holly's mother also fascinates: readers can contrast Holly's own dis-ease with her life to her mother's dissatisfaction with her life at a similar age. (Yeah, there's the women's stuff.) These comments should not make the book seem too serious. Leffler has fun with some of the eccentric characters and with the European locales.

This novel is a wonderful first work. The characters were developed thoroughly and clearly. The writing was fun, exciting, clever, and intelligent. I, at times, found myself in the kitchen with Holly and Alecia. Or in the common dorm room with Holly and Ed. Or on my way to see a psychic. I could not wait to turn the page, but I frequently read the same sentence over and over and over - laughing, or sighing, or wondering. It is quite an accomplishment, as I often reflect on certain scenes and smile, remembering the novel, its message, and the positive transformation of the main character. Try this book, you will fall in love with it.

Maggie Leffler has captured a unique, young woman who won my heart. Holly, the main character in "The Diagnosis of Love," is a thirty-year-old physician who leaves the USA for a temporary position in an ER outside of London. In addition to the usual young woman's romantic confusion and fear of commitment, Holly confronts life and death in the ER while she is still sorting out her mother's tragic, early death as well as her mother's choices in life. What I love about the book is, like life, nothing is simply right or wrong. Holly muses philosophically, diagnoses precisely and yet can meltdown like the rest of us. I loved reading this book, which is a real page-turner.

Dr. Leffler's first novel is engaging, insightful, and wonderfully witty. The story begins with Dr. Holly Campbell, a recent graduate of the St. Catherine's family practice residency program. Unable to deal with her mom's recent death, her mother's past life as a medical student in Grenada, and her own purpose in medicine, Holly drags her twin brother to see a psychic. While searching for answers, she only hears that "someone is going to England." Holly then escapes her life in Pittsburgh and leaves behind new boyfriend Dr. Matthew Hollembee (the one with teeth like piano keys during a song). Her life in England only brings a whole new set of characters: an attractive American orderly, her brother's emotionally unstable fiancee, the finacee's sick aunt, and her mom's ex-flame. Although Holly runs from her problems in the U.S., she encounters a whole new set of problems in the U.K. She eventually resolves her committment and childhood abandonment issues. Along the way, she rediscovers her passion for medicine, understands her mom's life, and discovers love. "The Diagnosis of Love" brilliantly develops the character of Holly Campbell - from a confused, hurt resident to a woman who is finally at peace and in love. Dr. Leffler's story also provides rich details of the U.K. and includes superb medical anecdotes. Maggie Leffler's first humorous novel simply makes us wanting more. Ernest K. Lau, MD