The Piano Man by Marcia Preston

". . . a heartwarming story anyone who has ever volunteered to be an organ donor would find enlightening."

?'Let me tell you something, mister,' she lectures him. 'You are not allowed to waste my son?s gift. You are not allowed to kill yourself by neglect and abuse.'?

"The Piano Man offers insight into the medical, emotional and psychological complications associated with the organ donation."

Marcia Preston’s new suspense novel, The Piano Man, is a heartwarming story that anyone who has ever volunteered to be an organ donor would find enlightening.

Preston weaves an intriguing story around Claire, a successful real estate agent, who sets out on a journey to find the person who received her son’s heart. For three years since Nathan’s death in an automobile accident, she regularly converses with floating, translucent visions of him. On one occasion, she discovers a letter from the wife whose husband received Nathan’s heart. But instead of using proper channels, she decides to launch her own search to find the husband, Mason McKinnon.

She finds Mason playing piano for tips in a smoky Santa Fe bar rather than performing as the gifted violinist mentioned in the letter. She stalks him by pretending to be a housekeeper. He confronts her with his suspicion when he finds his cigarettes stolen. “Let me tell you something, mister,” she lectures him. “You are not allowed to waste my son’s gift. You are not allowed to kill yourself by neglect and abuse.”

The Piano Man raises serious ethical and medical questions about a recipient’s

responsibilities and obligations to the donor’s family. Unlike the amicable

relationship that ultimately develops between Mason and Claire, in real life “…cases have occurred where a member of the donor''s family or the recipient have made things very uncomfortable for the other party,” according to www.transweb.org, a nonprofit educational web site serving the world transplant community. (See the full article at http://www.transweb.org/qa/qa_txp/faq_contactdonor.html.)

Preston expertly weaves in other character’s lives and gives Claire a strong personality. There is Win, her ex-husband who abandoned her before her son was born, her guardian angel, the truck driver who blames himself for Nathan’s death and dedicates his life to keeping Claire safe, and her father, with whom she becomes reconciled. In addition to telling a good story, The Piano Man offers insight into the medical, emotional and psychological complications associated with the organ donation.

Reviewer: Kate Padilla