She imbues the Lakashi natives with an exoticism heightened by the somewhat disturbing fact that even scientists who spend years among them, like Dr. In clear, crisp prose, Patchett captures the rain forest's oppressive heat and humidity, lurking snakes and 'veil of insects' with an itchy immediacy. Indeed, bad dreams plague the characters in State of Wonder - stimulated by anti-malarial drugs, jungle fevers and childhood traumas. Swenson in Manaus, she notes that 'she could not overcome the feeling that two very distant points in her life were now colliding in a way that should be relegated only to bad dreams.'Īnn Patchett is the author of six novels, including Bel Canto, which won the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award. When Marina finally manages to locate Dr. The woman in charge, who has been dodging inquiries, is none other than Marina's difficult, imperious former medical school professor, Dr. The chilly, widowed 60-year-old CEO of Vogel, who also happens to be Marina's secret lover, sends her down to Brazil to find out what happened to Anders, and to investigate how far along the fertility research has come. Anders, who was sent to check progress on research on an indigenous tree bark said to extend fertility indefinitely, called the substance 'the equivalent of Lost Horizon for American ovaries.' Anders Eckman, father of three small boys, has died in the Brazilian jungle. Twelve years later, her life takes another unexpected turn after she hears that her office-mate and friend, Dr. Originally trained in obstetrics and gynecology, she quit medicine after buckling from the pressure of a difficult delivery late into her residency at Johns Hopkins.

Patchett's appealing heroine is Marina Singh, a 42-year-old pharmacological researcher working in statin development for a Minnesota company called Vogel. Set in the Amazon rain forest, Patchett's new book is a dramatic, transportive adventure story that takes on issues of medical ethics, cultural respect, friendship, love and loyalty. Ann Patchett, who held readers captive with Bel Canto, her 2001 novel about a famous opera singer and a group of international dignitaries taken hostage by Latin American terrorists, is back in form with her mesmerizing sixth novel, State of Wonder.

Ann patchett amazon jungle