Die Zitadelle

Awarded the National Book Award. Britain in the 1920s. Freshly graduated and full of idealism, Dr. Andrew Manson takes his first position as an assistant doctor in a Welsh mining town. The shock of reality does not take long to set in: the population is poor and uneducated, and among his colleagues, indifference, incompetence, and corruption are endemic. Manson fiercely throws himself into the fight for better patient care and evidence-based medicine, inspired and supported by the love of his life, the village schoolteacher Christine.

After many setbacks, constant hostility, and fruitless fresh starts, however, his supply of idealism begins to dwindle. Moving to London opens up a new world for him. He encounters colleagues who know how to line their pockets with minimal effort, affluent (but not necessarily sick) patients, and soon becomes a celebrated society doctor. It is only after a severe stroke of fate that he is reminded of the lost ideals of his early days.

One of the most-read novels of the 20th century, now available in a newly revised translation, with annotations of medical terminology and (medical) historical contexts.