In this detailed recreation of medieval England, Rob Cole leaves poor, disease-ridden London to make his way across the land by hustling, juggling, and peddling cures to the sick. Along the route of his travels, Rob discovers mystical ways of healing. A dream to become a physician begins to consume him, and ultimately compels him through a perilous, unheard-of journey to Persia, and to the Arab universities whose knowledge will shape his destiny.
Noah Gordon is the author of The Death Committee, Matters of Choice, The Physician, Rabbi, and Shaman, which earned him the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for the best historical novel of 1992. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.