I am always interested in books by other doctors who write fiction. This extended family saga is a majestic example of the genre.
The story begins in 1900 when a young girl from Kerala in southern India sets out by boat for her arranged marriage to an older man. Several of her husband’s relatives have died by drowning. It ends in 1977, when she has become the matriarch of an extended clan, and the medical reason for the drownings has finally been discovered. It is a beautifully written book with a large cast of characters and vivid descriptions of the local setting.
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret
“One of the best books I’ve read in my entire life. It’s epic. It’s transportive . . . It was unputdownable!”—Oprah Winfrey, OprahDaily.com
The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of…
I’ve often wondered why so many decent intelligent people became complicit in the evils of Nazi Germany.
The question is explored in this sensitively written and well researched novel, set in the Buchenwald concentration camp towards the end of World War 11. When his young wife is dying, the camp administrator turns for help to one of the prisoners, a doctor whose previous research involved an electrical device for treatment of cancer.
The characters, all desperate for different reasons, resort to deliberate lies and unconscious denials to escape their predicaments.
A NOVEL OF DEVASTATING BEAUTY SET IN BUCHENWALD DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR
"A powerful and disturbing study in terrible lies and the human need to believe them."
ANNIE PROULX
Moving away from their lovely apartment in Munich isn't nearly as wrenching an experience for Frau Greta Hahn as she had feared. Their new home is even lovelier than the one they left behind and life in Buchenwald would appear to be idyllic. Lying just beyond the forest that surrounds them is the looming presence of a work camp.…
I didn’t expect that a novel about long meetings between a group of elderly men would absorb my interest, but it did.
Having enjoyed the 2024 film adaptation starring Ralph Fiennes I decided to read the book, which had been published back in 2016. I don’t know how Robert Harris accessed so much information about the process of electing a new Pope after the previous one has died, but the account has the ring of authenticity, except perhaps for the twist at the end which many reviewers have criticised.
Coincidentally, release of the film was soon followed by a real conclave, occasioned by the death of Pope Francis in 2025.
SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY EDWARD BERGER AND STARRING RALPH FIENNES, STANLEY TUCCI, JOHN LITHGOW, AND ISABELLA ROSSELLINI • The page-turning thriller set in the Vatican's secretive halls of power by the best-selling author of Enigma and Fatherland
"Pulsates with intrigue. . . . Ambition, sex scandals, financial corruption and terrorism all rear their ugly heads. And Harris saves one whopper of a surprise for the final pages." —USA Today
The pope is dead. Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will gather to cast…
A tragicomic novel about the toxic relationship between two couples who first met at medical school and whose paths cross again many years later. Charlotte is married to Henry, a retired consultant pathologist. She abandoned her own medical training after a harrowing experience left her emotionally shattered, and now devotes herself to good works. Henry insists that she accompanies him to a medical school reunion, where she will meet the “power couple” who derailed her future. Encouraged by her life coach she resolves to confront them, but opening the old wounds proves dangerous. Meanwhile Henry’s heart condition is causing concern. The storyline unfolds into a chilling final twist.
