The Spirit of the Place

By: Samuel Shem

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

From the bestselling author of the The House of God comes an ambitious novel about the complicated relationships between mothers and sons, doctors and patients, the past and the present, and love and death...

Settled into a relationship with an Italian yoga instructor and working in Europe, Dr. Orville Rose's peace is shaken by his mother's death. On his return to Columbia, a Hudson River town of quirky people and “plagued by breakage,” he learns that his mother has willed him a large sum of money, her 1981 Chrysler, and her Victorian house in the center of town. There's one odd catch: he must live in her house for one year and thirteen days. As he struggles with his decision—to stay and meet the terms of the will or return to his life in Italy—Orville reconnects with family, reunites with former friends, and comes to terms with old rivals and bitter memories. In the process he’ll discover his own history, as well as his mother’s, and finally learn what it really means to be a healer, and to be healed.

©2012 Samuel Shem (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Samuel Shem captured the humor, the angst and pathos of medical training in that unforgettable book, The House of God. His new book is an incredible and heartfelt story of a physician whose life has taken the most unexpected twists and turns. The Spirit of the Place entertains, satisfies, and affirms; it is beautifully conceived and brilliantly executed. Shem has done it again!”—Abraham Verghese, M.D., author of Counting for Stone

“A deeply moving and profoundly intelligent exploration of the complexities and rewards of family, profession and place. The story of a young physician returning to his small town becomes a tale with universal meaning. This book continues to resonate in the mind and heart long after it is read.”—Jerome Groopman, M.D., author of How Doctors Think

“In this lovely novel, Samuel Shem brilliantly describes scenery from the Italian Lakes to the Hudson River Valley with vivid enchanting detail. But his real subject is the landscape of the human heart with its dangers and delights, its vertiginous cliffs and mossy woods, its comforts and contradictions. This is a wonderful book about the surprises of human connection and the infinite power of love.”—Susan Cheever

Not what I expected but very enjoyable

Granted I’m soon to be moving to a small town to be a small town doctor, so I was drawn in. I loved The House of God and was looking for something similar. What I found wasn’t that at all but just as enjoyable. There’s more heart and soul to this story. The writing is fabulous and the narrator excellent. I’ll likely listen again.

Terrific characters with timeless themes, that are important for us to revisit.

I liked the storyline and the narrator was excellent for this story and these characters. He had a sensitivity the expressed the sentiment of the scene.