At Least You Have Your Health

April 11, 2022
Sinha follows up The White Coat Diaries with a perceptive account of a present-day Philadelphia gynecologist who empathizes with her patients about the difficulties of being a woman. Maya Rao dreams of providing community education on sexual health and anatomy but struggles with the demands of parenthood and disappointment from her working-class Indian immigrant parents about her marriage and career choices. After Maya has an interaction with a patient that she interprets as racist and sexist, she impulsively quits, and later joins Eunoia, a private wellness clinic run by the wealthy Amelia DeGilles, the mother of one of her child’s classmates. Gradually, the healthcare practices of her new clients, such as their preference for natural birth, lead Maya to question her career move and confront her reluctance about returning to obstetrics. Sinha convincingly explores Maya’s struggle between family, work, and self-fulfillment, and offers cogent social commentary on privilege, parenting, and the patriarchy (“women doctors: all the compassion and emotional burnout, none of the power or influence”). A side plot involving Amelia’s daughter and an unexplained illness provides emotional weight, though its denouement borders on the absurd. Nevertheless, Sinha gives readers plenty to chew on. Agent: Jessica Watterson, Sandra Dijkstra Literary.

September 1, 2022

In her sophomore effort, Sinha (The White Coat Diaries) returns to the medical field, as well as to the same award-winning narrator, Soneela Nankani. Dr. Maya Rao, Philadelphian gynecologist and daughter of immigrants, is barely surviving being a professional working mom, wife of a graduate student, and mother of three young children. She finally snaps at her corporate job and finds herself reluctantly taking a new position with Eunoia, a concierge health care company that needs an OB/GYN. Maya (who mysteriously refuses to practice obstetrics) agrees to cater to her rich clients and is thrilled that she can make her own hours. While perfect on paper, the new job forces Maya's life philosophy to crumble as she bends more and more rules with her patients who believe in ocean salt-water births and energy-balancing crystals. Nankani's unobtrusive narration is seamless, and she delivers effortlessly comedic phrases (like passages about Maya's Honda "Hot" minivan). Listeners will breeze through this tale that reeks of familiarity, thanks to the all-too-prevalent snake oil treatments that have been pushed via women's magazines for years. VERDICT Recommend to fans of medical and women's fiction.--Sarah Hill

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