An orphan leaves Dark Ages London to study medicine in Persia in this â richâ and â vividâ historical novel from a New York Timesâ 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 giftâ an acute sensitivity to impending deathâ 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 worldâ s most renowned physician, Avicenna. How the woman who is his great love struggles against her only rivalâ medicineâ makes a riveting modern classic.

The Physician is the first book in New York Timesâ bestselling author Noah Gordonâ s Dr. Robert Cole trilogy, which continues with Shaman and concludes with Matters of Choice.

New York Timesâ bestselling author: In 19th-century Spain, the son of a vineyard owner builds a life for himself, but a dangerous plot threatens it all . . .

Josep Alvarez is a young man in the tiny grape-growing village of Santa Eulália, in northern Spain, where his father grows black grapes that are turned into cheap vinegar. Joseph loves the agricultural life, but he is the second son, and his fatherâ s vineyard will be inherited by his brother Donat, the firstborn. Josep needs to keep his hands in the soil. He yearns for a job growing grapes and for an opportunity to marry Teresa Gallego.In Madrid, an assassination plot, conceived against the political leader of Spain by men of wealth and power, creates a storm of intrigue that sucks into its vortex a group of innocent young farm workers in Santa Eulália. How Josepâ s life is changed drastically by these events, and how, ironically, they gradually turn him into an inspired vintner with an evolving vision of life, is the fascinating story of The Winemaker.