Broken Heart Syndrome

<p>The stories in <em>Broken Heart Syndrome</em> revolve around a small local hospital in the beach community of Lewes Delaware all influenced by the loss of Jeff Donahue a marine biologist who dies in a cycling accident. Jeff's wife Sylvie his best friend Brian and his sister Regina take the loss hard. Tina the emergency room nurse who was there the night Jeff died and Sue the attending doctor feel the loss as part of a pattern of loss they deal with constantly in their profession. Charmel a mother whose daughter is in surgery and Mrs. Shipley who will be treated in the same ER long after Jeff's death happens feel the loss as a ripple through a close-knit community. Travis breaks into his ex-wife's home to remember what it was like to be part of a family. Regina tricks her dead brother's best friend into sleeping with her by asking him to scatter the last of the ashes. For Anne Colwell death doesn't end relationships but transforms them. Her characters live lives haunted by ghosts and yet they all eventually choose to suture up their despair for a chance at restoration.</p>