The Six-Liter Club

Surgeon and author Kraus offers his longtime fiction readers a highly charged tale of overcoming prejudice both racial and sexual. Set in 1984 at the Medical College of Virginia, its first black female trauma surgeon, Dr. Camille Weller, gets a fast initiation into the Six-Liter Club. Few physicians ever enter this “elite” group; entrance is gained by bringing a patient back who's lost six liters of blood. Weller manages to achieve this honor on her first day and then, in quick succession, also manages to break “house rules,” which divide the male and female staff. Weller has a lot to contend with apart from her duties as a surgeon. The young doctor must balance a romantic relationship with a resident; deftly overcome the barriers she encounters because of her skin color; and move beyond nightmarish memories of her childhood in the Congo. Kraus's story clips along at a fast pace, and his readers will appreciate how candidly the surgeon writer portrays the real world of operating rooms and their attending staffs. (Apr.)