Carol Cassella Doctor, mother, and novelist

photo credit: Raymond Gendreau

Author Biography

Carol Cassella is a practicing anesthesiologist and novelist.
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Influences

As a mother (two sets of twins!) I would have to put my children on the top of the list of what influences my writing. Once I had children, everything else about my life and, indeed about the world, took on a more profound degree of meaning and vulnerability. I'm also very influenced by my work as a doctor. Being a physician allows me to be at least transiently close to people I would never otherwise meet. It has made me intimately aware of how quickly a life can be taken or saved.

Riveting 'Oxygen' expertly captures the reality of hospital life

Date of Review:

06/26/2008

Published Work:

Oxygen

Reviewer:

John Marshall

Source:

Seattle Post Intelligencer

Review Excerpt:

"Write what you know" remains the quintessential advice to aspiring writers, especially those hoping to pen a novel.

Carol Wiley Cassella certainly is following that time-honored advice. The Bainbridge Island anesthesiologist has just published her debut work of fiction, "Oxygen" (Simon & Schuster, 290 pages, $25), that features first-person narration by a, surprise, Seattle anesthesiologist.

This gripping novel's main character is Dr. Marie Heaton, who is at the top of her profession at the fictional First Lutheran Hospital. But a mistake in the operating room leads to the death of an 8-year-old girl.

Cassella's own hospital experience . . . helps turn "Oxygen" into a riveting look at the challenges of medical care today. She also captures the reality of the physician's life -- different from what you get on TV.