Michael Ondaatje

Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, novelist, and editor (born 1943), best known for The English Patient (1992), which won the Booker Prize; other notable works include In the Skin of a Lion and Running in the Family.

This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.

  1. 1. Il Paziente Inglese

    Set in an Italian villa turned convalescent hospital near the end of World War II, the novel centers on a badly burned, enigmatic patient whose fragmented memories of a passionate wartime love affair in the North African desert slowly surface. Cared for by a devoted young Canadian nurse, he becomes the magnet for a small, diverse group—an Indian sapper who defuses mines and confronts racism and loyalty, a scarred ex-spy and thief, and others displaced by war—each carrying their own wounds and secrets. Through interwoven recollections, intimate dialogue, and lyrical description, the story explores themes of identity, memory, love, betrayal, and the violent imprint of colonial and wartime histories on bodies and landscapes.

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