The Good Doctor - Softcover

Galgut, Damon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1782396241 ISBN 13: 9781782396246

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2015

Synopsis

A powerful, taut and intense tale of a friendship overshadowed by betrayal, set against the tawdry hopes and disappointments of a post-apartheid South Africa. When Laurence Waters arrives at his new post at a deserted rural hospital, staff physician Frank Eloff is instantly suspicious. Laurence is everything Frank is not-young, optimistic, and full of big ideas. The whole town is beset with new arrivals and the return of old faces. Frank reestablishes a liaison with a woman, one that will have unexpected consequences. A self-made dictator from apartheid days is rumored to be active in cross-border smuggling, and a group of soldiers has moved in to track him, led by a man from Frank's own dark past. Laurence sees only possibilities-but in a world where the past is demanding restitution from the present, his ill-starred idealism cannot last.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

When Laurence Waters arrives at his rural hospital posting in a former homeland of the new South Africa, Frank, a fellow doctor there, is instantly suspicious. Laurence is everything Frank is not - young, optimistic, and full of new schemes. The two become uneasy friends, while the rest of the meagre staff in the deserted hospital view Laurence with a mixture of awe and mistrust.
The tired, ghostly town beyond the hospital is also coping with new arrivals, and the return of old faces. The Brigadier, a self-fashioned dictator from apartheid days, is rumoured to be still alive. And down at Mama's Place, the town's only watering hole, a group of soldiers have moved in with their malign commandant, a man Frank has met before and is keen to avoid for his own dark reasons. Laurence wants to help - but in a world where the past is demanding restitution from the present, his ill-starred idealism cannot last.

About the Author

Damon Galgut was born in Pretoria in 1963, and now lives in Cape Town. He wrote his first novel, A Sinless Season, when he was seventeen. His books include Small Circle of Beings, The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs, The Quarry, The Good Doctor, The Impostor, and In A Strange Room. His novels have twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (The Good Doctor; In A Strange Room), and The Impostor was shortlisted for the Dublin/IMPAC Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, which Galgut also won with The Good Doctor.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1782396241
• ISBN 13: 9781782396246
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224