1881. Iowa City, a small town in Iowa. A middle-aged invalid, Harriet Deuell, and her brother-in-law, Dr. Benjamin Aylworth, find themselves embroiled in a nationwide debate on the moral and legal implications of physician-assisted suicide...a century before Dr. Jack Kevorkian. What began as a story of local curiosity was soon being reported in newspapers across the country. Was Dr. Aylworth simply being supportive as his eccentric sister-in-law starved herself to death, or was he an active participant in the suicide of an insane woman?

Tim Parrott is a 6th-generation Iowa Citian, whose paternal ancestors settled in Iowa City as early as 1839. Other branches of the family arrived during subsequent decades among the hordes of German and Bohemian immigrants, who settled in the area. Tim is a linguist and translator by profession, but also profoundly interested in exploring the untapped wealth of "sleeping history," which lies buried in Iowa City's Oakland Cemetery.

Can be ordered directly from the author: timoshka@aol.com