The Physician

An orphan leaves Dark Ages London to study medicine in Persia in this "rich" and "vivid" historical novel from a
New York Times-bestselling author (
The New York Times).


A child holds the hand of his dying mother and is terrified, aware
something is taking her. Orphaned and given to an itinerant barber-surgeon, Rob Cole becomes a fast-talking swindler, peddling a worthless medicine. But as he matures, his strange gift-an acute sensitivity to impending death-never leaves him, and he yearns to become a healer.


Arab
madrassas are the only authentic medical schools, and he makes his perilous way to Persia. Christians are barred from Muslim schools, but claiming he is a Jew, he studies under the world's most renowned physician, Avicenna. How the woman who is his great love struggles against her only rival-medicine-makes a riveting modern classic.


The Physicianis the first book in
New York Times-bestselling author Noah Gordon's Dr. Robert Cole trilogy, which continues with
Shaman and concludes with
Matters of Choice.