Second Growth by Joan L. Cannon ’46. Serge Dziminowitcz, the protagonist of this novel has much to overcome in his quest to become a caring and fully realized human being. His abusive, con artist father plagued his childhood and returns when Serge is an adult to torpedo his budding career as a doctor and his marriage to a socialite. Second growth, the fertile flourishing of forests after they have been cut down, is the metaphor for his new life as a country doctor in Vermont. Second Growth is the story of a man’s struggle to understand what is valuable. I was sad to learn that Joan Cannon died in 2017, and look forward to reading some of her other works.
