Sorrow's Reward

Sorrow’s Reward takes place in a dialysis unit, where patients with kidney failure receive their treatment. Reflecting the spirit of Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology and employing fiction’s unique power, it gives voice to the silent ruminations of patients, doctors, health care workers, administrators, health care industry representatives, and family members as they reflect upon their lives and upon their experiences in this unique and special place. Each entry stands alone; each makes a comment, subtle or direct, upon the rich, sad intricacy of life. Yet as the book develops, the threads of these reflections are drawn together and intertwined, as individuals speak about their own existences and observe and pass judgement on the posturing and behaviour of those they see around them. And while these stories are being told, tragic events occur, passions are revealed and hidden lives are laid bare. “There is no swashbuckling here, no demons gloriously slain, fortunes made, hearts won. There are heroes, of course, but their battles are hardly epic ones. Their foe is a silent killer; their heroism is forged inch by daily inch. It is gritty work, all consuming, not the stuff of fantasy.” - from Sorrow’s Reward