#83 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: "The Sword And Shield" by Emma Khoury

Chris Rice Cooper 

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

*The images in this specific piece are granted copyright privilege by:  Public Domain, CCSAL, GNU Free Documentation Licenses, Fair Use Under The United States Copyright Law, or given copyright privilege by the copyright holder which is identified beneath the individual photo.

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***The CRC Blog welcomes submissions from published and unpublished fiction genre writers for INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION.  Contact CRC Blog via email at caccoop@aol.com or personal Facebook messaging at https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

****Emma Khoury’s THE SWORD AND SHIELD is #83 in the never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote that specific excerpt.  All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece. 

Has this been published? And it is totally fine if the answer is no.   If yes, what publisher and what publication date? It hasn’t been published yet but, per my contract, it will be in stores within the next two years! (Below:  Emma's two cats Echo and Kira were the inspiration for The Sword and Shield)

What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? I began writing The Sword and Shield in 2015. It was an on again, off again relationship, which is why it took me so long. It was also the first novel length work I’d ever written to completion and I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing. I finished writing it in early 2018.

Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work?  And please describe in detail. I’ve been doing my writing at the local Panera.  My couch is now my primary writing space.

What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? I try not to listen to anything while I’m writing as it often distracts my ADD brain. I make sure to keep well hydrated and eat something every couple of hours if I’m binge-writing. I will make notes in a notebook if I’m away from my laptop and get an idea but I primarily do my writing on a laptop.  The muse is fickle and will strike at any time during the day. I just have to be ready when it does!

What is the summary of this specific fiction work? Ezra Toth is your typical sword for hire.  A dark past, a few secrets, a talent for killing, with a sharp sword and sharper wit.  Perhaps his several dozen cats are a bit unique but other than that…  He returns from a ordinary, arduous job to find representatives of the crown waiting for him at his home – not so typical.  They bring him to the Crown Prince who has a problem only Ezra can solve.  Crown Prince Christophe's brother, and possibly even the King himself, are part of a plot to assassinate him.  With no idea who in the palace is truly loyal to who, Ezra must navigate a myriad of potential suspects whilst protecting the heir. 

Can you give the reader just enough information for them to understand what is going on in the excerpt? Ezra isn’t your typical sword for hire – asexual, cat-loving, with an auto-immune disease – but the Crown Prince still thinks Ezra is his best bet to protect himself from the murderous plots of his relatives.

Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as reference.  Page 35: Tossing his bag to the floor, Ezra collapsed onto the couch, and out of nowhere, they descended.

     Black, blue, orange with a bit of white, white with a bit of orange, one named Snow because she was that ghostly pale, and several others with bits missing. Ezra was soon covered in cats. Their communal purring was deafening and each vied for space to rub their scent on him. Echo forced his head to dip as Luke chewed on one of his braids and after a while, they all settled down, finding space near enough to curl up near him.

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write?  And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? This excerpt wasn’t really an emotional one, but it was certainly the most fun. It’s a good way to show that there really is more to this assassin than meets the eye.

          Writing since she was twelve years old, Emma has pursued many original stories as she honed her gift.  She is an avid reader, having recently purchased her fifth bookcase.  Emma lives in Michigan with her two cats, Echo and Kira.  

www.emmakhoury.com

INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links

001   11 15 2018 Nathaniel Kaine’s

Thriller Novel

John Hunter – The Veteran

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/001-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nathaniel.html

002   11 18 2018 Ed Protzzel’s

Futuristic/Mystery/Thriller

The Antiquities Dealer 

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/002-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ed.html

003   11 23 2018 Janice Seagraves’s

Science Fiction Romance

Exodus Arcon

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/003-inside-emotion-of-fiction-exodus.html

004   11 29 2018 Christian Fennell’s

Literary Fiction Novel

The Fiddler in the Night

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/004-inside-emotion-of-fiction-christian.html

005  12 02 2018 Jessica Mathews’s

Adult Paranormal Romance

Death Adjacent

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/5-inside-emotion-of-fiction-jessica.html

006  12 04 2018 Robin Jansen’s

Literary Fiction Novel

Ruby the Indomitable

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/006-inside-emotion-of-fiction-robin.html

007  12 12 2018  Adair Valerez’s

Literary Fiction Novel

Scrim

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/007-inside-emotion-of-fiction-adair.html

008  12 17 218 Kit Frazier’s

Mystery Novel

Dead Copy

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/008-inside-emotion-of-fiction-kit.html

009 12 21 2019 Robert Craven’s

Noir/Spy Novel

The Road of a Thousand Tigers

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/009-inside-emotion-of-fiction-robert.html

010 01 13 2019 Kristine Goodfellow’s

Contemporary Romantic Fiction

The Other Twin

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/010-inside-emotion-of-fictions-other.html

011 01 17 2019 Nancy J Cohen’s

Cozy Mystery

Trimmed To Death

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/11-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nancy.html

012 01 20 2019 Charles Salzberg’s

Crime Novel

Second Story Man

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/12-inside-emotion-of-fiction-charles.html

013 01 23 2019 Alexis Fancher’s

Flash Fiction

His Full Attention

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/13-inside-emotion-of-fiction-alexis.html

014 01 27 2019 Brian L Tucker’s

Young Adult/Historical

POKEWEED:  AN ILLUSTRATED NOVELLA

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/14-inside-emotion-of-fiction-brian-l.html

015 01 31 2019 Robin Tidwell’s

Dystopian

Reduced

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/15-inside-emotion-of-ficton-reduced-by.html

016 02 07 2019 J.D. Trafford’s

Legal Fiction/Mystery

Little Boy Lost

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/16-inside-emotion-of-fiction-little-boy.html

017 02 08 2019 Paula Shene’s

Young Adult ScieFi/Fantasy/Romance/Adventure

My Quest Begins 

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/017-inside-emotion-of-fiction-my-quest.html

018 02 13 2019 Talia Carner’s

Mainstream Fiction/ Suspense/ Historical

Hotel Moscow

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/18-inside-emotion-of-fiction-talia.html

019 02 15 2019 Rick Robinson’s

Multidimensional Fiction

Alligator Alley

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/19-inside-emotion-of-fiction-rick.html

020 02 21 2019 LaVerne Thompson’s

Urban Fantasy

The Soul Collectors

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/20-inside-emotion-of-fictions-soul.html

021 02 27 2019 Marlon L Fick’s

Post-Colonialist Novel

The Nowhere Man

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/02/21-inside-emotion-of-fictions-nowhere.html

022 03 02 2019 Carol Johnson’s

Mainstream Novel

Silk And Ashes

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/22-inside-emotion-of-fictions-silk-and.html

023 03 06 2019 Samuel Snoek-Brown’s

Short Story Collection

There Is No Other Way to Worship Them

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/23-inside-emotion-of-fictions-there-is.html

024 03 08 2019 Marlin Barton’s

Short Story Collection

Pasture Art

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/24-inside-emotion-of-fictions-pasture.html

025 03 18 2019 Laura Hunter’s

Historical Fiction

Beloved Mother

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/25-inside-emotion-of-fictions-beloved.html

026 03 21 2019 Maggie Rivers’s

Romance

Magical Mistletoe

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/26-inside-emotion-of-fictions-magical.html

027  03 25 2019 Faith Gibson’s

Paranormal Romance

Rafael

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/27-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rafael-by.html

028 03 27 2019 Valerie Nieman’s

Tall Tale

To The Bones

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/03/28-inside-emotion-of-fictions-to-bones.html

029 04 04 2019 Betty Bolte’s

Paranormal Romance

Veiled Visions of Love

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/29-inside-emotion-of-fictions-veiled.html

030 04 05 2019  Marianne Maili’s

Tragicomedy

Lucy, go see

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/30-inside-emotion-of-fictions-lucy-go.html

031 04 10 2019 Gregory Erich Phillips’s

Mainstream Fiction

The Exile

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/31-inside-emotion-of-fictions-exile-by.html

032 04 15 2019 Jason Ament’s

Speculative Fiction

Rabid Dogs

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/32-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rabid.html

033 04 24 2019 Stephen P. Keirnan’s

Historical Novel

The Baker’s Secret

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/04/33-inside-emotion-of-fictions-bakers.html

034 05 01 2019 George Kramer’s

Fantasy

Arcadis: Prophecy Book

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/34-inside-emotion-of-fictions-arcadis.html

035 05 05 2019 Erika Sams’s

Adventure/Fantasy/Romance

Rose of Dance

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/35-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rose-of.html

036 05 07 2019 Mark Wisniewski’s

Literary Fiction

Watch Me Go

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/36-inside-emotion-of-fictions-watch-me.html

037 05 08 2019 Marci Baun’s

Science Fiction/Horror

The Whispering House

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/37-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

038 05 10 2019 Suzanne M. Wolfe’s

Historical Fiction

Murder By Any Name

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/38-inside-emotion-of-fictions-murder-by.html

039 05 12 2019 Edward DeVito’s

Historical/Fantasy

The Woodstock Paradox

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/39-inside-emotion-of-fictions-woodstock.html

040 05 14 2019 Gytha Lodge’s

Literary/Crime

She Lies In Wait

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/40-inside-emotion-of-fictions-she-lies.html

041 05 16 2019 Kari Bovee’s

Historical Fiction/Mystery

Peccadillo At The Palace:  An Annie Oakley Mystery

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/41-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

042 05 20 2019 Annie Seaton’s

Time Travel Romance

Follow Me

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/42-inside-emotion-of-fictions-follow-me.html

043 05 22 2019 Paula Rose Michelson’s

Inspirational Christian Romance

Rosa & Miguel – Love’s Legacy: Prequel to The Naomi

Chronicles

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/43-inside-emotion-of-fictions-rosa.html

044 05 24 2019 Gracie C McKeever’s

BDMS/Interracial Romance

On The Edge

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/05/44-inside-emotion-of-fictions-on-edge.html

045 06 03 2019 Micheal Maxwell’s

Mystery

The Soul of Cole

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/45-inside-emotion-of-fictions-soul-of.html

046 06 04 2019 Jeanne Mackin’s

Historical

The Last Collection:  A Novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and

Coco Chanel

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/46-inside-emotion-of-fictions-last.html

047 06 07 2019 Philip Shirley’s

Suspense/Thriller

The Graceland Conspiracy

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/47-inside-emotion-of-fictions-graceland.html

048 06 08 2019 Bonnie Kistler’s

Domestic Suspense

The House on Fire

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/48-inside-emotion-of-fictions-house-on.html

049 06 13 2019 Barbara Taylor Sissel’s

Domestic Suspense/Family Drama

Tell No One

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/049-inside-emotion-of-fictions-tell-no.html

050 06 18 2019 Charles Salzberg’s

Short Story/ Crime Fiction

“No Good Deed” from Down to the River

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/50-inside-emotion-of-fictions-no-good.html

051 06 19 2019 Rita Dragonette’s

Historical Fiction

The Fourteenth of September

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/51-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

052  06 20 2019 Nona Caspers’s

Literary Novel/Collage

The Fifth Woman

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/52-inside-emotion-of-fictions-fifth.html

053 06 26 2019 Jeri Westerson’s

Paranormal Romance

Shadows in the Mist

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/53-inside-emotion-of-fictions-shadows.html

054 06 28 2019 Brian Moreland’s

Horror

The Devil’s Woods

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/54-inside-emotion-of-fictions-devils.html

055 06 29 2019

Epic Fantasy

Wings Unseen

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/06/55-inside-emotion-of-fiction-wings.html

056 07 02 2019 Randee Green’s

Mystery Novel

Criminal Misdeeds

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/56-inside-emotion-of-fiction-criminal.html

057 07 03 2019 Saralyn Ricahrd’s

Mystery Novel

Murder In The One Percent

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/57-inside-emotion-of-fiction-murder-in.html

#058 07 04 2019 Hannah Mary McKinnon’s

Domestic Suspense

Her Secret Son

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/58-inside-emotion-of-fiction-her-secret.html

#059 07 05 2019 Sonia Saikaley’s

Contemporary Women’s Literature

The Allspice Bath

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/59-inside-emotion-of-fiction-allspice.html

#060 07 09 2019 Olivia Gaines’s

Romance Suspense Serial

Blind Luck

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/60-inside-emotion-of-fiction-blind-luck.html

#061 07 11 2019 Anne Raeff’s

Literary Fiction

Winter Kept Us Warm

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/061-inside-emotion-of-fiction-winter.html

#062 07 12 2918 Vic Sizemore’s

Literary Fiction-Short Stories

I Love You I’m Leaving

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/62-inside-emotion-of-fiction-i-love-you.html

#063 07 13 2019 Deborah Riley Magnus’s

Dark Paranormal Urban Fantasy

THE ORPHANS BOOK ONE:  THE LOST RACE

TRILOGY

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/f063-inside-emotion-of-fiction-orphans.html

#064 07 14 2019 Elizabeth Bell’s

Historical Fiction

NECESSARY SINS

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/064-inside-emotion-of-fiction-necessary.html

#065 07 15 2019 Lori Baker Martin’s

Literary Novel

BITTER WATER

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/07/065-inside-emotion-of-fiction-bitter.html

#066 08 01 2019 Sabine Chennault’s

Historical Novel

THE CORPSMAN’S WIFE

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/66-inside-emotion-of-fictions-corpsmans.html

#067 08 02 2019 Margaret Porter’s

Historical Biographical Fiction

BEAUTIFUL INVENTION:  A NOVEL OF HEDY LAMARR

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/67-inside-emotion-of-fictions-beautiful.html

#068 08 04 2019 Hank Phillippi Ryan’s

Suspense

THE MURDER LIST

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/68-inside-emotion-of-fictions-murder.html

069 08 08 2019 Diana Y. Paul’s

Literary Mainstream Fiction

THINGS UNSAID

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/69-inside-emotion-of-fictions-things.html

070 08 10 2019 Phyllis H. Moore’s

Women’s Historical Fiction

BIRDIE & JUDE

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/70-inside-emotion-of-fiction-birdie.html

071 08 11 2019 Sara Dahmen’s

Historical Fiction

TINSMITH 1865

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/71-inside-emotion-of-fiction-tinsmith.html

072  08 19 2019 Carolyn Breckinridge’s

Short Story Collection

KALIEDESCOPE & OTHER STORIES

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/72-inside-emotion-of-fictions.html

073 08 21 2019 Alison Ragsdale’s

Emotional Women’s Fiction

THE ART OF REMEMBERING

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/73-inside-emotion-of-fiction-art-of.html

074  08 22 2019 Lee Matthew Goldberg’s

Suspense Thriller

THE DESIRE CARD

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/74-inside-emotion-of-fictions-desire.html

075 08 23 2019 Jonathan Brown’s

Mystery/Amateur P.I.

THE BIG CRESCENDO

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/08/75-inside-emotion-of-fictions-big.html

076 09 02 2019 Chera Hammons Miller’s

Literary Fiction w/ suspense, concern with animals & land management

Monarchs of the Northeast Kingdom

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/76-inside-emotion-of-fictions-monarchs.html

077 09 09 019 Joe William Taylor’s

Literary Mystery

The Theoretics of Love

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/77-inside-emotion-of-fiction-theoretics.html

078 09 15 2019 Linda Hughes’s

Romantic Suspense

Secret of the Island

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/78-inside-emotion-of-fiction-secrets-of.html

079 09 19 2019 Max Elliot Anderson’s

Middle Grade Adventure/Mystery

Snake Island

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/79-inside-emotion-of-fiction-snake.html

080 09 22 2019 Danny Adams’s

Science Fiction

Dayworld: A Hole In Wednesday

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/80-inside-emotion-of-fiction-dayworld.html

081 09 24 2019 Arianna Dagnino’s

Social/Historical/Adventure

The Afrikaner

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/81-inside-emotion-of-fiction-afrikaner.html

082 09 29 2019 Lawrence Verigin’s

Thriller/Suspense

Seed of Control

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/09/82-inside-emotion-of-fiction-seed-of.html

083  10 05 2019 Emma Khoury’s
Fantasy
The Sword And Shield
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/83-inside-emotion-of-fiction-sword-and.html

CRC Blog Analysis on Andrea Rothman's THE DNA OF YOU AND ME

Chris Rice Cooper 

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

*The images in this specific piece are granted copyright privilege by:  Public Domain, CCSAL, GNU Free Documentation Licenses, Fair Use Under The United States Copyright Law, or given copyright privilege by the copyright holder which is identified beneath the individual photo.

**Some of the links will have to be copied and then posted in your search engine in order to pull up properly

CRC Blog Analysis

on THE DNA OF YOU AND ME

by Andrea Rothman

“Settling For One Box Is Overrated”

 “Motherhood is overrated, if you ask me. Human company is overrated”

Emily Apell, The DNA of You and Me, page 156

Emily Apell always felt like the outsider for two reasons:  her mother abandoning her when she was only three months old; and her severe allergy to grass that forces her to stay in the family den looking out the window as the world passes her by, which results in her not being accepted by her peers and community, forcing her to live like a recluse.  

She finally outgrows her allergy by the time she reaches her teens, but still feels unaccepted.   She also feels a sense of abandonment not necessarily by her mother but by a part of herself she has yet to know that could only be found in her mother.  And she only discovers this part of herself when she has an imaginary encounter with her mother. 

her knocking on my door and me opening it and seeing her, and slowly coming to recognize in her something about myself that I didn’t quite know, or understand.

Page 24

There are three things, however, she is not allergic to and craves with all the passion she can muster: competition, looking through a microscope, and the memories of her beloved father, who was also a scientist. 
She always knew her choice of career would be science the only thing and the best thing she knows, which is not surprising to her or her own father.  Her whole life was within the four walls of her sterilized home and the four walls of her father’s lab. Science was her only faithful companion and the only thing she knows.

     Fresh out of graduate school from Illinois, she is hired by Justin McKinnon to conduct research in the McKinnon Lab, located in the heart of New York City, with the East River and the bridge as its focus and backdrop. Her assigned mission is to discover how olfactory sensory neurons reach their targets in the brain where smell is processed. 
As she walks down the halls of the McKinnon Lab, she finally feels she is on the cusp of greatness, but soon discovers she is not welcome and actually resented by scientists Aeden Doherty and Allegra Meltzer, both who happen be partners in researching the exact same thing she was hired by Justin to do, which she, as well as other experts in the field, deems to be unethical.  

          She approaches Justin who is unapologetic and convinces her to stay.  With each passing page the reader walks with Emily along this journey of scientific discovery that is easy to understand, not intimidating, not confusing, and yes, entertaining.       The DNA of You And Me is written by Andrea Rothman (http://www.andrearothman.com/); jacket design and illustration by Laywan Kwan (https://www.facebook.com/laywan.kwan); designed by William Ruoto (https://www.williamruotodesign.com/); and published on March 12, 2019 by William Morrow, An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (https://www.facebook.com/WilliamMorrowBooks/).

     Andrea Rothman’s The DNA of You And Me placed second place in the category of Best Popular Fiction-English at the 21^st International Latina Book Awards. (Left)  The DNA of You And Me has received top-notch reviews form Publisher’s Weekly (https://www.publishersweekly.com/) and Library Journal (https://www.libraryjournal.com/).  More importantly, Andrea Rothman knows her subject – she herself was a research scientist at the Rockefeller University in New York, where she was awarded two grants from the NIH to study the sense of smell. 

     But Rothman is unlike her main character Emily in her debut novel The DNA of You And Me – she didn’t confine herself and her life and her dreams to just one box of science, she is happily married with two children, and left her box of science for the box of fiction.

     The DNA Of You And Me is a novel about a great deal of many things:  ethics, science, a love story, entertainment, but more importantly it is about a woman named Emily and her inability to dream outside of that box known as the “science.”   Emily is too comfortable inside her science box to consider anything else, and the simple thought of anything outside her box scares the hell out of her. 

Fellow scientist Aeden Doherty makes her confront the idea of another box when the two fall in love and become more than just co-workers, friends and confidants but lovers, sharing their pasts and their dreams of the future.  Emily shares with him her painful childhood, her treasured memories of her father, the abandonment of her mother, and her dreams of someday owning her own lab. 

     Aeden shares with Emily his reason for being on the project is due to his mother, who has anosmia.  He shares with Emily that he witnessed his mother fall down the parking lot stairs four years ago.  The impact of the fall caused her shearing off of her nerve endings in her olfactory bulb making it impossible for her to smell. She has the lifelong condition of anosmia.  Aeden knows that the cure will not be made in his mother’s lifetime but he hopes to help find a cure out of love for his mother.

By her own choosing, she is closing herself to every possibility that does not exist in her box of becoming a scientist.  Is it impossible for her to have any other kind of world outside of her career, a mistake that many working women, and in fact, working men face.

And perhaps Emily’s greatest fear is the inability or reluctance to rationally discuss the possibility of living outside the box. Even the thought of having that kind of conversation makes her feel like the little girl running away from the grassy yard to the sterile den in her home, looking out of the window, feeling safe but at what expense is this safety?

     When Justin gives her vouchers to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art she decides to go – more out of need from giving her brain a break after studying her gene over and over again than mere interest. It is at the Metropolitan Museum that she explores a world outside of science – that of art.  Emily is drawn to the painting Portrait of Writer Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin by Ilya Repin because the man in the painting looks almost identical to Aeden. An employee from the Metropolitan Museum of Art approaches her and she tells him the man in the painting reminds her of someone she knows.

“I hope your friend has better luck. This one threw himself down a stairwell and died when he was thirty-three years old.”

“That’s a sad story, “ I said, recalling what Aeden had told me about his mother.

“Are you an artist?”

“No,”

“Do you paint at all?”

“I wish I knew how,” I caught myself saying, and realized it was true.

Page 87

     Emily thinks the painting is a self-portrait but is surprised to learn that it is a painter Repin and painting subject Garshin are two different people.  Emily tells the man that she thought it was self-portrait and he tells her that if it were a self-portrait he would have to hold the mirror in a certain position.  At the mention of hearing him speak the word mirror, Emily realizes something about the gene she has been studying the whole time, and this new “something” leads her closer to the gene she has been trying to locate.  Justin is very pleased at this new discovery and what it could mean for the world of science and for his lab.

Later, in the book, Emily seeks Justin’s advice, not about Science, but matters close to the heart, such as life outside of science, a life of love.

“What about love?” I asked.

“Love?” Justin said chucking.  “You might find it, but it won’t last very long.  We may feel desperately alone but deep down what we crave is solitude.  Your best bet is here, academia.  This is where you stand the best chance of being happy, and making others happy.”

Page 187

It is possible to do both?  Emily has always been able to have dreams about her career in science; why can’t she make room in her dreams for a relationship and marriage and even motherhood?    Isn’t it possible for her to have both?  Or at least for her to consider the fact that she could have both?

And if she realizes she can have both and does desire both will she have a second chance of love?

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