About the Author

Jacquelin Gorman is the author of The Seeing Glass, a memoir. She grew up in a family of physicians in the shadow of Johns Hopkins Hospital and spent a great deal of time in Maryland’s hospitals as a girl. She has practised as a health-care lawyer in Los Angeles and as a hospital chaplain, she is currently the programme director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Her stories have appeared in Slake Magazine, Kenyon Review, ScreamOnline, The Journal, and Reader’s Digest.

Reviews

Gorman's nine, hard-hitting linked stories feature two likable hospital chaplains who minister in a Los Angeles hospital. . . . Loss, forgiveness, grace, and compassion fatigue are recurrent themes. Perhaps more profoundly than most, these caring chaplains understand 'how grief can wear a person down.'--Tony Miksanek "Booklist"

I have never read anything at all like this stark and brilliant book, which examines death, dying, and human love through the perspective of young hospital chaplain Henrietta during her initial year of duty in the 'viewing room.' I feel changed and enlarged by these extraordinary characters, their dire situations, and life stories.--Lee Smith "author of Fair and Tender Ladies"

The vivid, powerful, and disturbing stories of The Viewing Room exhibit a deep caring about the preciousness of life and the strength of the bonds that can link us to one another. When love and death are locked in intimate embrace, the only recourse for bystanders is compassion. Brave and honest, these stories whisper to the reader, 'Take care, take care, ' and, 'Help one another.'--Sena Jeter Naslund "author of Adam & Eve"