Ok this book is about a nun that works in a hospital, gets pregnant by the head surgeon, gives birth to twins and dies within the first twenty pages. I know, right! Look, this guy had me at "pregnant nun" but it just kept getting better and better. The majority of the novel is set in an Ethiopian hospital. The nun's kids are raised by the remaining two surgeons at the hospital. (Thomas Stone the surgeon/baby daddy runs off after their birth. Don't worry. He shows back up later.)
The amazing thing about this book is the way the author constructs a completely foreign world that feels familiar. The family consists of the two docs, who go on to marry, the twin boys, two servants and one of their daughters. Not what you would call an American style nuclear family. But somehow, except for the names, it feels like this bunch could be living next door to me.
It's not an easy read. It's just under 700 pages. But it doesn't feel like work. And I guarantee it will be a completely fresh story for you...unless there is a whole pregnant nun genre that I am unaware of.
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