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    The Lazarus Child
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    The Lazarus Child
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    The Lazarus Child
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    The Lazarus Child

    Written by Robert Mawson

    Narrated by Allison Janney

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    It takes just a moment for a family's life to be changed forever. For a twelve-year-old boy to dash across the street for a pack of peppermints. For his seven-year-old sister to follow him into traffic. For a bus to swerve out of control. And with that terrible moment, a family's search begins for the unlikely miracle that will put together their shattered lives--and bring their daughter back to life....

    In a small hospital room, little Frankie Heywood lies in a coma so deep, no one--not even those who love her the most--can reach her. It is a parent's worst nightmare. For months the Heywoods have kept an uneasy vigil at their daughter's bedside, waiting in vain for the least sign of hope. There they watch helplessly as doctors come and go, unable to do anything for Frankie but keep her body functioning.

    Now the experts are telling them that prolonging Frankie's existence may be damaging to their son Ben, who is slipping deeper and deeper into a dangerous emotional isolation. Their marriage already strained to the breaking point, the Heywoods are desperate as only a family can be. Against the expert judgment of all around them, they grasp at their last chance: the brilliant neurologist Elizabeth Chase.

    Lizzie Chase knows what it's like to lose a loved one to the darkness. She has dedicated her life to coaxing children back from the brink of oblivion. Her revolutionary work offers the only hope to families like the Heywoods. It has also drawn the unwanted attention of those who through ignorance, greed, or fear would do anything to stop her.

    But Lizzie and the Heywoods refuse to be stopped. They are certain that somewhere, just beyond their reach, Frankie is waiting for the lifeline that will lead her back to them. Together this passionate healer and this courageous family will take any risk, make any sacrifice, and defy all odds to turn the ultimate tragedy into the ultimate triumph...but not even miracles occur without a price.

    The Lazarus Child is that rare novel that touches you in a way you didn't know you could be touched. It is an unforgettable testament to the power of love, hope, faith--and the inexplicable magic of family.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 5, 2000
    ISBN9780553751543
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Lazarus Child

    3/5

    41 ratings4 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Quite an interesting book, verging on sci-fi and fantasy. A good tale, but far too much meandering in fantasy landscapes, described at great length and interfering with the plot.
    • 4/5
      Interesting book, although not for the faint-hearted. Within seconds of finishing it I realized how much disbelief I had suspended to enter into the story. But if it lasts while reading, that is the main thing.
    • 3/5
      “Sometimes you have to kind of die inside in order to rise from your own ashes and believe in yourself and love yourself to become a new person.” ― Gerard WayRobert Mawson is a pen name of the author Robert Radcliffe whose historical novels I have largely enjoyed so I was curious as to how he would handle a very different subject matter.This books weaves two stories together. The first takes the Heywood family through the consequences of a near-fatal accident to their youngest child Frankie which was witnessed by her 12-year-old brother Ben. Frankie is hit by a bus on the way to school and knocked into a deep coma.Rather than a fairly conventional treatment of right to life and euthanasia issues or perhaps the locked-in syndrome from the point of view of the patient as in Dalton Trumbo's "Johnny Got his Gun", Mawson takes a very different path. Exploring the consequences of trying to bring Frankie back - Lazarus-like - from what doctors clinically describe as a persistent vegetative state.Brilliant young American psychiatrist Lizzie, who herself lost a younger sibling when a child, has established the Perlman Clinic specifically to rescue children in Frankie's condition believes that she can bring Frankie back. However, a sizeable part of the American medical establishment are against Lizzie and her methods despite the fact that she has had some limited success.This is the second thread of this book.On the whole Mawson is compelling, even daring, and the story rattles on at a fairly good pace. At times you feel for Frankie's parents, Jack and Alison, and the unenviable situation they find themselves in, not to mention the difficult decisions they are faced with. However, what lets the book down generally is that some parts seem to work better than others. This seems apparent in the first chapter alone. The placement of the innocent image of the rag doll at the scene of the accident is wonderful. Then it swiftly switches to the father Jack waking up on the office settee because he slept with his secretary and has been banished fro the family home meaning Ben must walk Frankie to school. This in turns to why Ben witnesses and blames himself for Frankie's accident. However, although we know why Jack is unable to walk the kids to school we are none the wiser why Alison did not fill the void.Character development is generally poor as was treatment of the protest at the clinic IMHO which quite frankly I'm not sure was totally necessary. However, what really let me down was the psychic journey that culminates with the end of the book. The title itself gives the ending away so is fairly predictable and did Mawson really need so detailed description and to take so long to get there?On the whole I found the book OK running along at a quick enough pace to keep me interested but a little more care with the characterisation and a little judicious editing would have made it more thought provoking. Or it could just simply be me.
    • 1/5
      This is a medical drama that takes on a touch of science fiction towards the end.

      I only read it because my friend asked me too.

      The storyline was boring and a bit unbelievable.