Nightingale on the Ward

Sharon Goldblatt is a twenty-seven-year-old Jewish lesbian whose family already rejected her and whose nights are spent with superhero comics, so Danny, her best friend dying of AIDS, is the one person she cannot lose.

On his ward she runs into Kate Xiao Hong Chiu, a British Chinese nurse who brushes off Sharon’s questions and treats her concern as interference in work that leaves little room for amateurs.

Kate’s marriage ended because she loved this job too much, yet she still notices the shaved sides of Sharon’s head, their shared Lady Phantom comics, and a pull she has no intention of answering.

Sharon has never kissed a woman, and Kate tells herself desire does not matter when so few people are willing to keep these patients comfortable.

Two equally stubborn women and one unforgiving ward make staying out of each other’s way far harder than either of them wants to admit.