Robert Montefiore graduates from medical school and plunges into the sink-or-swim world of a residency in obstetrics and gynecology. He sinks. As if his fears of inadequacy were insufficient, he receives plenty of external validation in the form of critical supervisors, incapacitating fatigue and sick patients. He has fallen in irrational love at first sight with first-year medical student Maggie, and his efforts to woo her all end in disaster. He must find a way to thrive during this four-year trial by fire or be destroyed in the process. The Education of Dr. Montefiore is set in the fictional Chicago School of Medicine Hospital, a place where heroism and selflessness share the wards with vanity and ineptitude. Hilarious and poignant, this novel explores the themes of self-discovery, the role of institutions and individuals in inspiring young doctors, and the miracles manifest in the functioning of the human body. Praise for...

In the Lebanese village of Bhamdoun in 1931, Joseph Friedmann is born to a 15-year-old Jewish girl hastily married off to a man thirty years her senior. His parents divorce, and at the age of eight, Joseph is sent to be raised in a Catholic convent. There he experiences anti-Semitism, betrayal, and a deep trauma he cannot bring himself to name. He falls in love with Isabella, a nun-in-training, but this too turns to heartbreak. Joseph sets out on foot toward Palestine, where he takes part in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. He has finally found a home. But his new country needs Joseph’s unique set of skills, and he returns to Lebanon as an Israeli spy. Over time, the tools of his trade — daring, violence, deceit, and suppression of self — exact an ever-increasing toll. After twenty years undercover, he completes one final, decisive operation. Now Joseph faces...