Publication Date: March 26, 2024
Wealthy fourth-year medical student Jack is miserable and mean. An elderly patient, seeking her long-lost lover, is about to send him on the journey that will change his life.
Aimless Jack Maizel is a slovenly medical student who is unlikeable, arrogant, and slightly manic. Persuaded by his influential parents to pursue a medical career, he cannot hide his contempt for the profession and even for some of his neediest patients. His classmate, Ahgri, a well-mannered and gentlemanly former Tanzanian mountain guide and coffee plantation worker, is an unlikely best friend.
When Maizel begins a month-long clinical rotation on the first day of September in 1982 with a hospital admission work-up for elderly and soft-spoken Mildred Dixon, he has no intention of doing any more than he has to. As the month goes by, she recounts a tender and passionate romance with a young U.S. Army Air Force lieutenant headed off to bombing runs over Germany. She appeals to Jack for help in her last wish of finding the love of her life again.
As the days run out on September, Mildred and Ahgri’s collective wit and Mildred’s touching plea eventually lead Maizel to a life-altering experience. The astonishing twist that ignites a path for Maizel’s future will leave readers with a poignant lesson on how we learn to live and love. Dwinnells’s memorable characters and his message of hope, kindness, forgiveness, and redemption will appeal to readers across genres.
A cantankerous medical student learns valuable life lessons when he encounters a sick woman who is able to see through his disgruntled exterior.
Thirty Days Hath September traces Jack Maizel’s transformation from a rude, arrogant tyrant to a man with a clear purpose. Author Ronald Dwinnells incorporates some small Kentucky communities into the setting, all of which I have visited as a native of the state.
Since the story begins with a flashback from World War II, the initial expectation is there would be some sort of reunion between Bert Vines, the wounded B-17 crew member, and his lady love, Mildred Dixon.
Instead, Mildred ends up in a Lexington hospital for additional tests and encounters Maizel, whom she nicknames “Sonny Boy.” His slovenly attire and antagonistic attitude would get him thrown out of any reputable hospital and away from vulnerable patients.
Yet the two are drawn together as Mildred probes into Jack’s past to determine the source of his hostility. With a terminal diagnosis looming, Jack decides to fulfill Mildred’s wish to see Bert again. His search takes him across the state, leading to adventures that help him find his true purpose.
The conclusion delivers an unexpected twist but works well with the story’s theme of love, loss, and redemption.
Thirty Days Hath September provides an homage of sorts to those who serve as inspirational beacons for other people in dire need of an intervention.
Ronald Dwinnells, MD, MBA, is a pediatrician and a certified physician executive. He is the CEO of ONE Health Ohio, an integrated community health center program serving the medically uninsured, underinsured, and underserved populations in northeast Ohio. His clinics have served over one million patients during his 35 years at the helm.
He is also the founder and president of the Butterflies and Hope Memorial Foundation (www.butterfliesandhope.org), whose mission is to support and improve the lives of children, adolescents, and young people suffering from behavioral and mental health issues. He has authored and published several scholarly works on health-care delivery systems and is on the faculty of local universities, teaching topics on leadership, health-care delivery programs, health disparities, and physical diagnosis.
Dr. Dwinnells attributes his personal and professional growth and life’s good fortunes to hard work, a good attitude, the love of life, and being raised in two cultures–Japanese and American. His extracurricular activities include mountain climbing (including Mt. Rainer, Fuji, Hood, St. Helens, Pikes Peak, Baker, Whitney, Shasta, Washington, and two continental high points of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Elbrus), running competitive road races, gardening, traveling, reading, creative writing, and exercising. He lives with his wife, Kathy; his daughters, Erin, Sarah, Emily, and Abbey; and his favorite (only) son, Adam, in Poland, Ohio.
