Then the bell

From the author of the haunting novella The Castaway comes a stirring memoir of a life spent fighting, both in and out of the ring.As a child, Frank learns the art of boxing from his father, sparring in a home-built ring to the count of an egg timer. Soon the son overtakes the father, and the lessons end. But is he ready for the world?At boarding school in Japan, Frank befriends his witty classmate, a girl who leaves a lasting impression. Yet as their friendship starts to become something more, they choose to attend different schools, and life takes a new direction.Lonely and adrift at Oxford, Frank spies a flier on a pole: BOXING TEAM TRYOUTS. When he steps into the ring again (now facing an affable Brit), he finally finds a place, and a driving passion, working towards a year-end bout with rival Cambridge.Years later, Frank is an ER doctor in a rough western town, taking care car wrecks and heart attacks, and starting a family. Then, out of the blue, he receives a message from the girl from boarding school: She has cancer, and is battling for her life.Dealing both with the trials of growing up and the realities of growing old, Then the Bell seeks to answer the question: when it is time to fight, how will you answer the call?ABOUT THE AUTHORFrank Huyler is the author of the novella Castaway, the novels Right of Thirst and The Laws of Invisible Things, and a nonfiction book about his experiences in medicine, The Blood of Strangers. His poems and essays have appeared in many publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, and The American Scholar. He is an emergency physician and a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.PRAISE FOR THEN THE BELL?Masterful?the kind of story I love, with compelling characters and an ?inside baseball? look at a sport in which I usually have no interest?boxing. Yet I read on, turning pages compulsively to the heart-wrenching end, and then felt bereft it was over.  Kudos to Frank Huyler. How does he practice and teach medicine and also manage to write gorgeous fiction?? ? Sara Davidson, author of Loose Change and Joan: Forty Years of Life, Loss and Friendship with Joan DidionPRAISE FOR FRANK HUYLER?Dr. Huyler?s writing is quiet, precise, spellbinding from beginning to end ? Easily holds with the best contemporary fiction.? ?The New York Times