A captivating new voice in women's fiction delves into the haunted past of a physician's seemingly perfect marriage.

Simon and Emily Bear look like a couple that has it all. Simon is a respected doctor. His wife, Emily, shines as a partner in a premier public relations firm. But their marriage is scarred by hidden wounds. Even as Simon tends his patients' ills, and Emily spins away her clients' mistakes, they can't seem to do the same for themselves or their relationship.

Simon becomes convinced he's discovered a cure for chronic pain, a finding that could become a medical breakthrough, yet he is oblivious to the pain that he causes at home. Emily, struggling to move beyond the devastating loss she and Simon suffered fifteen years earlier, realizes she hasn't felt anything for a long time-that is, until a lover from her past resurfaces and forces her to examine her marriage anew.

In a debut novel on par with today's top women writers, Remedies explores the complicated facets of pain, in the nerves of the body and the longings of the heart. Depicting modern-day marriage with a razor-sharp eye, Remedies is about what it takes, as an individual and as a couple, to recover from profound loss.

2. Simon listens to his patients, makes himself accessible to them, and thinks up ways to make their health care more productive. He’s also will­ing to think “outside the box” when it comes to determining a treatment. Is Simon a good doctor?
3. Emily has grown up with an expectation that the world one lives in can be controlled. In what ways is she able to exert control? At what points does she experience the limits of her influence? How does she react when she’s confronted by her inability to control people and events?
4. Simon’s professional world is physically connected to his home. How does the architecture of the house relate to some of Simon’s internal con­flicts? How does the architecture of the hospital in Florida relate to medi­cine and to Simon’s situation?
5. Emily’s professional sphere is in another city. What does work mean to the Bears? How have they established and maintained their professional personas? How have they helped each other professionally over the years? How does their work affect their family life?
6. Simon and Emily have strained relationships with Jamie, but those two difficult relationships differ from each other. In what ways are those two relationships different?
7. What will it take for each of those relationships to improve?
8. Emily, Simon and Jamie are each grappling with the effects of a shared past tragedy. What are the remedies each seeks to handle the lingering, and sometimes unacknowledged, feelings of heartache? What works? What doesn’t?
9. How does each of them act when they can’t handle those feelings of heartache? In what ways do they act out? In what ways do they keep their feelings constrained?
10. Simon doesn’t mean to overstep his bounds with the nurse, Julie McKinley, and yet he does. What kinds of different feelings does Julie McKinley inspire in him? Why are those feelings at odds with each other? Why are those feelings out of step with the real world? What emotions and yearnings are connected to his sexuality?
11. When Simon decides to make wine, he has visions of a family project that will impress his wife and involve his daughter. Why does he choose wine? Why is this project doomed from the start? What does it say about Simon that he believes this project will be an antidote for the strife at home?

This book is on these lists:

• January 2012 Indie Next List
• December 2011 Indie Next List
• November 2011 Indie Next List