He a Healer. A Pillar of the Community. And a Complete Fiction.
Every story begins with a question. For The Doctor's Ledger, the question that sparked the entire narrative was this: Can a good man be built on a lie?
Every story begins with a question. For The Doctor's Ledger, the question that sparked the entire narrative was this: Can a good man be built on a lie?
When you first meet him, Dr. Jonah Pettigrew is a cornerstone of the burgeoning Hope community. He is the town's healer, a quiet man of science and compassion, a pillar of decency in a world that is often anything but. He is trusted, respected, and essential.
But he is also a ghost.
The man known as Jonah Pettigrew does not exist. He is an alias, a carefully constructed fiction designed to hide the real man: Dr. Julian Croft, a disgraced Boston surgeon who fled his old life after a catastrophic failure. He came to Hope not to build a future, but to run from a past.
As a writer, I’ve always been fascinated by the masks we wear and the stories we tell ourselves. What happens when the mask becomes the face? What happens when the lie you tell to survive allows you to do more good than the truth ever did? This is the dilemma at the heart of The Doctor's Ledger.
The title itself refers to more than just a financial account book. It represents the ledger of a soul. On one side, there is the crushing debt of Julian Croft's past—his arrogance, his failure, his flight from justice. On the other, there is the growing credit of Dr. Pettigrew's present—the lives saved, the wounds mended, the quiet acts of service that have made him the heart of the town.
But a ledger always demands a reckoning.
In this story, that reckoning arrives in two forms. First, in the burgeoning connection with Abigail, a woman whose honesty and spirit make Julian’s carefully constructed walls feel more like a prison than a fortress. And second, in the form of a relentless Pinkerton detective who carries the ghosts of Boston all the way to Hope’s doorstep.
The Doctor's Ledger is a story of redemption, but not in the way you might expect. It asks whether redemption is found by erasing the past, or by earning a new future. It is a story that proves that a community like Hope isn't just a place to hide, but a place to heal.
This novel is a pivotal chapter in the Testaments of Hope saga, exploring the sacrifices and secrets that lie beneath the foundations of the town we’ve come to love. It was a profound journey for me as an author to walk with Julian as he confronted the man in his mirror.
I am so proud to share that journey with you today. I invite you to open the ledger and discover its secrets for yourself.
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