Gene Hull is a premed student who will stop at nothing to win back the love of his life. Unfortunately, she's not buying it, and Gene must figure out how to move on.The novel takes flight with a family vacation as Gene’s father, an anesthesiologist driving through the torrid Arizona desert, stops at an accident scene. The accident leaves young Gene horror stricken, but deeply imprinted by his father’s heroic efforts to save an injured child.Years later and hoping to follow in his father's footsteps, Gene, a college student, scrubs and gowns up for the “Heart Room,” an operating theater of chilling cold, bone saws, smoke, and macabre humor.As intimacy and affection slip back into Gene's life, he must confront his own mistakes and untangle the braided strands of love, loss, and reconciliation. "In matters of the heart, a single lapse of judgment can prove fatal. In this wise and tender novel, a young man finds out if he can live up to his father's reputation and his own expectations of himself. Greg Williams is a terrific writer!" -- Ron Carlson, author of the At the Jim Bridger and Return to Oakpine "Sharply honed as a scalpel, Open Heart is mesmerizing and profound, a superb novel that is guaranteed to bring pleasure and a deeper understanding of the human condition to those who read it." -- Daly Walker, MD, author of Surgeon Stories "An actual heart beats in this novel from the first line to the last. Make no mistake about it, with care and grace, and an urgency you'll feel on every page, Greg Williams has written a beautiful and evocative novel about a young man's singular and authentic quest to make meaning of life." -- Billy Lombardo, author of the The Man With Two Arms and How to Hold a Woman "Gregory D. Williams does a fine job of capturing the changing options and challenges facing a young man who breaks others' hearts because his own is being wring by life circumstances and family ties." -- Diane Donovan for The Midwest Book Review "Gregory D. Williams's novel is a timeless coming-of-age story that will remain with the reader long after they finish the book. Open Heart opens our hearts to believing in loving again, even after we've been hurt, just as Gene does. This novel teaches us that life is a precious, fragile gift, both physically and emotionally." -- The Book Review Reader " . . . a tale that holds both surprise and inevitability, and evokes laughter even as it veers into pathos and tragedy." -- Peter Selgin, judge of the Arts and Letters Fiction Prize Open Heart is a gentle coming of age story that leaves readers wanting more, yet gives them a sense of comfort as they reach the end. Gene Hull is a premed student who will stop at nothing to win back the love of his life . Unfortunately, she's not buying it, and Gene must figure out how to move on. The novel takes flight with a family vacation as Gene's father, an anesthesiologist driving through the torrid Arizona desert, stops at an accident scene. The accident leaves young Gene horror stricken, but deeply imprinted by his father's heroic efforts to save an injured child. Years later and hoping to follow in his father's footsteps, Gene, a college student, scrubs and gowns up for the "Heart Room," an operating theater of chilling cold, bone saws, smoke, and macabre humor. As intimacy and affection slip back into Gene's life, he must confront his own mistakes and untangle the braided strands of love, loss, and reconciliation . Gregory D. Williams, M.D. is the winner of Georgia College's 2008 Arts and Letters Prize for Fiction. His fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in Blue Mesa Review, Elysian Fields, American Fiction, Bosque, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. A graduate of Stanford University and the University of Arizona Medical School, he grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Williams' specialty was anesthesiology, and he was the son of an anesthesiologist. The author passed away in 2020.