Medical Meeting

by Mildred Walker, Robert Giroux (Introduction)

Dr. Henry Baker and his wife, Liz, have spent twelve years developing a cure for tuberculosis. Working at a lab in their home, they have persisted without adequate funding and assistance, sacrificing new clothes and vacations to make their contribution to humanity. Tests have so far proved very encouraging. At the beginning of Medical Meeting they are ready to announce their discovery at a convention in Chicago. What promises to be a reward for years of work, a great moment to savor, turns into a disaster, professionally and possibly personally.

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Mildred Schemm Walker (May 2, 1905 – May 27, 1998) was an American novelist who published 12 novels and was nominated for the National Book Award. She graduated from Wells College and from the University of Michigan. She was a faculty member at Wells College from 1955 to 1968. Walker died in 1998 in Portland, Oregon.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mildred Walker is one of my favorite writers. She wrote in an era in the USA of basic decency of characters. Being the wife of a doctor, Ms Walker was familiar with the milieu of this wonderful book, a medical conference where a doctor, accompanied by his devoted wife and lab partner, is presenting a paper on a mold that could possibly cure TB. Everything about this 1949 book seems right. I don't think it was one of her most successful books but I loved every minute of it. I found a hardcover of the original edition so did not have the benefit of the U of Nebraska Press's excellent forewords in their reissues of her novels.

[Edith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dusting off a bookshelf, I came to my collection of Mildred Walker novels and the spirit overtook me. The bookshelf is still not completely dusted (!) because I was compelled to sit down on the spot with Medical Meeting and jump in....even though I was in the middle of another book.

Published in 1949, the story is set in this time as well. Doctors who were interns together 12 years before are meeting at a medical conference with their wives...and our protagonists, Dr. Henry Baker and his wife Liz, are attending with especial high hopes because Henry is giving a paper on research he and Liz have been selflessly working on for 12 years...the beginnings of a possible cure for tuberculosis with a mold he has discovered, cultured and used on patients at the Sanatorium where he works. Much of this story comes from Liz’s perspective.

The outcome of the ‘medical meeting’ is not as expected; but what is at the heart of the story are the marriage relationships between all the couples and Henry and Liz themselves....Walker explores these relationships with her keen and discerning observations. Likewise there is a theme of integrity regarding the life choices everyone has made since medical school.

Word of advice: I recommend making a list of all the married couples as one meets them in the story in order to keep them sorted. There is a lot of back and forth between the many old friends and it can be confusing unless you keep the couples sorted and understand their relationship to Henry and Liz. Also, do not read the ‘introduction’ to the book if there should be one in your copy....it will spoil the surprises.

Note: I didn’t care for the cover art of my book- a painting by Edward Hopper- because the couples in this story are in their early 40s and the painting depicts a white-haired couple who look to be in their 70s. Misleading and does not fit.

[S Sande · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great work of Mildred Walker. This book, like "The Orange Tree", feels like I am at a live performance on stage. It seems it could be a fine play. The author's life experiences live in her fiction novels. And, as a doctor's wife herself, she can lend authority to her scenes and situations.