Deze sage vertelt de reis van een man, gedreven door een onstilbare dorst naar kennis en genezing, ondanks zijn weesverleden en uitdagende lot. Gezegend met het vooruitzicht van de dood en een diep verlangen om te genezen, navigeert hij door de ingewikkelde wereld van het middeleeuwse Engeland en Perzië. Het verhaal verkent zijn meedogenloze streven om arts te worden, zijn strijd tegen ziekte en maatschappelijke vooroordelen in een levendig en vaak gevaarlijk tijdperk. Ervaar een boeiend drama over moed, vastberadenheid en de zoektocht naar iemands ware roeping.
Eleventh-century England and Persia are the backgrounds of this story of an orphan named Rob Cole, who is apprenticed to a travelling barber-surgeon and, discovering in himself a gift for healing, decides to study medicine with the legendary Avicenna.
Robert Jeremy Cole, the legendary doctor and hero of THE PHYSICIAN, left an enduring legacy. From the eleventh century on, the eldest son in each generation of the Cole family has borne the same first name and middle initial and many of these men have followed the medical profession. A few have been blessed with their ancestor's diagnostic skill and the 'sixth sense' they call The Gift, the ability to know instinctively when death is impending. The tragedy of Rob J.'s life is the deafness of his son, Robert Jefferson Cole, who is called Shaman by everyone who knows him. Shaman's life is difficult. First, he must learn to speak so that he can take his place in the hearing world, and then he must fight against the prejudices of a society where physical differences matter. As Shaman struggles to achieve his identity, the Coles, along with the rest of America, are drawn into the conflict between the North and the South.
The first time R.J. defies her beloved father is when she is born a female; the second, when she opts to study law rather than medicine. Yet destiny is to overtake her when, for the first time, R.J. Cole realises that she has inherited The Gift. Holding the hand of a sick man, R.J. feels a dreadful certainty that he is going to die; tragically, the patient is no stranger but her own lover. Struggling with her grief, R.J. knows she must bow to the inevitable, and become a doctor. At first she combines her new talent with her legal work on cases where medical advice is needed, and her diagnostic skill combined with The Gift make her an invaluable consultant. But her life changes when she moves to a small town practice and is faced with a terrible dilemma - and an important choice to make...