The Physician

Noah Gordon

Jun 2012 · The Cole Trilogy Book 1 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

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 Physician is 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.

Ratings and reviews

My very favorite book of all times. Every time I read it I feel like I'm living every adventure along with the characters, every laugh, every fear, every tear and every triumph. I read The Physician whenever I need some inspiration for my life, a little push to go after new goals, so I've read it like 15 times, and thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them.

I recently read the three books in Noah Gordon's trilogy: "The Physician," "Shaman" and "Matters of Choice." Three books set in different time historical time periods with a physician as the central character, loosely connected by common lineage. A wonderful, wonderful series, overlaid with a modern view on tolerance and open-mindedness that is perhaps a touch optimistic.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Not only was it entertaining, but also insightful: It provides glimpses into what life might have been like in the Y1K, going through medicine, travel, religion, culture, wealth, etc.

About the author

Noah Gordon has had outstanding international success. The Physician, now a major motion picture, has been called a modern classic, and booksellers at the Madrid Book Fair voted it “one of the 10 best-loved books of all time.” Shaman was awarded the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for historical fiction. Both of these books, and five of the author’s other novels—The Rabbi, The Death Committee, The Jerusalem Diamond, Matters of Choice, and The Winemaker—are published in digital formats by Open Road Integrated Media. Gordon’s novel, The Last Jew, will also be published digitally in the near future. He lives outside of Boston with his wife, Lorraine.