Total Eclipse of the Heart
In light of last week’s Big Event (the eclipse, of course), this just seemed appropriate. I hope you agree.
The Heart Specialist (2009), a much-acclaimed novel by Claire Holden Rothman, was recommended by a close friend and former nurse who had just finished reading it. She gave it high marks for several reasons: it was penned by a Montrealer, set in Montreal, drawn from the life of a prominent female Montreal physician (Maude Abbott) of that era, and it was a darned good read, to boot. Oh yes, and Bishop’s University medical school plays a small but pivotal role in the plot. How many of you even knew that Bishop’s HAD a medical school?
The story opens in the frigid Quebec winter of 1874, when 4-year-old Agnes Bourret, our protagonist, glimpses her father for the last time. This event sets the stage both for Agnes’s lifelong quest for her missing father, a prominent medical doctor accused of murder, and for her pursuit of a career in medical science, particularly diseases of the heart, a field now known as cardiology. Grief-stricken and pregnant with Laure, her second child, Agnes’ mother does not live much beyond her husband’s disappearance, leaving Agnes and Laure’s upbringing in the hands of their well-todo grandmother White.
As time goes on, it becomes clear that Agnes is both very bright, and also not very interested in traditionally feminine pastimes. She would rather skin and eviscerate roadkill squirrels and create a museum of “specimens” at her grandmother’s home in the fictional
St. Andrews East outside Montreal than flirt with boys and compete with other girls for their attention. On the other hand, her little sister, Laure, is precisely the opposite, both in temperament and appearance. Agnes is dark and rather plain, while Laure is often compared to an angel. Their ability to appreciate each other, scanty at first, emerges over time, particularly as they both develop into young women. Laure is depicted as a highly neurotic individual whose marriage is unsustainable, and as the story progresses golden girl Laure shows signs of never being able to live on her own.
A third woman, Georgina Skerry, enters the picture as the girls’ governess. She proves herself over time to be the perfect companion for Agnes, since she too is very smart and believes that women are at least as capable as men. As the story moves through the 1880s, Agnes is still dreaming of the day when she can meet her absent father, and follow in his footsteps as a physician. At this time, Mcgill University does not admit women (or Jews for that matter!), but Agnes is fortunate enough to garner support among several influential Montrealers such as Lord Strathcona, by virtue of her stellar undergraduate academic record at Mcgill. With their financial help, she is able to approach the Medical school admissions committee at Mcgill with the full $250,000 tuition, only to be rebuffed as unsuitable. ”Experiments in mixed education have been,” the dean continued, “mixed to say the least. In Toronto, as you probably know, they have led to violence….i cannot, in all conscience, subject Mcgill to upheaval because of the desires of a single young lady, no matter how clever or talented she happens to be.”
Of course, Agnes does emerge with her medical degree (from Bishop’s!), or that would be the end of our story. She proves to be especially skilled in investigating heart problems, as well as being a tireless curator of medical specimens such as abnormal hearts, and the first part of her career in medicine is distinguished less by medical breakthroughs and more by her skill in assembling and maintaining an extensive collection of such artifacts.
The mystery of her father’s disappearance, and his connection to one of his students, Dr. Howlett, runs throughout the novel, complementing the fascinating story of Agnes’s life and career. And what about a love life? Well, not so much. There is finally only one man, Jakob Hertzlicht, with whom she works closely, and who is even more of an outcast than she ever was. She develops feelings for him, but that relationship is on-again, off-again for years. The real love story here is between Agnes, her absent Dad, and her passion for the medical profession.
One feature of the book I found especially interesting was that many of the chapter headings contained quotes drawn directly from Dr. Maude Abbott herself, although it is made very clear that this is not a biography. Chapter 5: “Sometimes a very small hole may be accompanied by a very large murmur” (Maude Abbott, Congenital Cardiac Disease). Dr. Abbott is definitely someone with whom I would like to spend more time.
Claire Holden Rothman is a Montreal writer who taught literature at Marianopolis College for many years and headed the advanced fiction workshop at Mcgill University. She now makes her living translating and adapting scripts for television. She has also written two other well-regarded novels, My October (2014) and Lear’s Shadow (2018).
The Heart Specialist is available from the Lennoxville Library.