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I generously give 3.5 stars despite the often farcical historical howlers this tale is flooded by because the storytelling is very good. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK and expect to be informed about the era allegedly covered.

I had read it many years ago, around age 10 I think and it was this book that generated my lifelong interest in the history of medecine. To be fair to the author I believe the parts covering Judaism and Arabic medicine of the period are broadly accurate but probably no more than that, despite NG's apparent research. Ibn Sina did exist but died in 1037.

I do note the date of publication and historical fiction at that time was apt to have less expected of it, to my mind.

So, a few of the errors I encountered:

Rob J Cole - the main character has a name that would never have been used in England at that time. Even Robert was rare, middle names did not exist for the masses and even today I have never met anyone using their name as a shortened first name plus middle initial in Britian - that is an Americanism. Finally, humble people also did not have surnames but were known by what they (or their father) did. Rob J's father was a carpenter so where did Cole come from? This absolutely basic set of errors sets the tone for the whole book!

Witch pricking and the whole set of beliefs about witches sounds straight out of the Salem witch trials! There is little record of witchcraft in historical record and most of them were wise women, not barber-surgeons, which was an actual profession, albeit ineffective. I think the fear that he and Barber would be thought witches was overstated and the incident from Barber's past was unlikely. The whole issue belonged more in the 16th century or later. An accusation of heresy was a more likely threat if their practice stepped outside the accepted domain.

The language Rob J studies so diligently is no Parsi but Farsi. A Parsi is actually from India and is a Zoroastrian.

Travelling barber-surgeons did exist in England, being first recorded at exactly the time of the novel. However Barber carried out the job more like a travelling quack in the US in a much later era.

The basic premise of the story was impossible - there is no way Rob J could have impersonated a Jew at that time and for that long and without really knowing how to be a Jew! Rob J thought like a modern man not a man of the 11th century. To have even conceived of doing what he did was beyond unlikely. NG also imputed an impossible freedom to women and Mary's father would never have considered a marriage between them as she was socially above Rob J.

Finally (but far from exhaustively!) he would not have been able to practice back in England/Scotland BECAUSE HE WAS A CHRISTIAN and the reason medicine back then was so basic in Christian countries was that vivisection was considered heresy (which was true for many more centuries). The merest hint that he had looked inside a body would have probably ended in him being killed as a heretic.

Here endeth my narrative!