

Today, it's available for viewing on streaming giant Netflix. It was an immediate box office hit and even earned its producers a Bogey Award - a German prize based on the number of people who see a film within a given time frame - for attracting more than 1,000 visitors per screening on its opening weekend, and 1 million visitors within 10 days.Ī musical based on the book was also staged in Spain in 2018.

"Der Medicus" was filmed in 2013 in English by German director Philipp Stölzl, and starred British actors Tom Payne and Ben Kingsley, and featured then upcoming German actor Elyas M'Barek. It was the first of a trilogy, with the follow-up novels "Shaman" (1992) and "Matters of Choice" (1995) becoming bestsellers too.

Set in the 11th century, the series followed the adventures of the orphaned Robert Jeremy Cole from his childhood in England to life in Europe and his studies at the medical college in Isfahan - now Iran - where he learned from the great physician, Avicenna. Its German translation, "Der Medicus," sold 6 million copies. When his best-known work, "The Physician," was released in 1986, it sold nearly 10 million copies in 35 countries. Noah Gordon had a unique position of enjoying bestseller author status outside of his native US.
