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Summary
Summary
"Dr. Matthew Hiller is about to face the most difficult moment of his life. The brilliant neurosurgeon's next case is not simply a suffering patient for whom he is the last hope. It is Silvia - his only love." "Now married to one of the richest men in the world, Silvia can still evoke the same feelings in him that she did so long ago." "Even after all this time, he has not recovered from her unexplained disappearance on the eve of their marriage - and thoughts of her have haunted him ever since." "As a doctor, he must try to help her. As a spurned lover - and a married man - he must try to forget the past. And he dares not think about what might happen if he actually succeeds in saving her life..."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Author Notes
Erich Segal was a writer, educator, and screenwriter. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 16, 1937. He graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in 1958, a M.A. in 1959, and a Ph.D. in 1964.
Segal began a teaching career at Harvard University before moving to Yale University in 1964. He was also a visiting professor in classics at Princeton University and the University of Munich. He achieved international acclaim for his verse translations of Roman playwright Plautus and delivered papers before the American Philological Association and the American Comparative Literature Association.
Segal collaborated on the 1958 Harvard Hasty Pudding Club production and wrote several Hollywood screenplays, including the 1968 animated Beatles film, Yellow Submarine and A Change of Seasons. His most famous novel was Love Story, written in 1970. The book was made into a film in 1970. He received a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for his screenplay. His other novels include Oliver's Story, The Class, and Doctors. He died of a heart attack on January 17, 2010 at the age of 72.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Already slated for a 1998 Hallmark Entertainment miniseries, this tale of older-and-wiser deathbed romance from the popular Segal (Love Story; Oliver's Story; etc.) sacrifices grand passion to pleasantly formulaic plotting and self-satisfied resignation. Narrator Dr. Matthew Hiller's past and present collide when beautiful, rich Silvia Rinaldi turns to the world-renowned physician to cure a malignant brain tumor. Silvia is not just any patient; 18 years earlier, she and Matt were colleagues, idealistic young Médecine Internationale doctors in Africa, where they saved lives and became lovers. After an accident nearly killed Matt, Silvia mysteriously disappeared from his life, only to resurface as the wife of a wealthy Italian industrialist. Devastated, Matt buried himself in work, first in Africa, later in Boston and New York, where he married a childhood friend and became the top specialist in his field. Can he save his doomed lost love? Will they have a second chance at happiness? Segal handles this hackneyed yet entertaining plot with a light touch, adding a classical music subtext (Matthew is also a gifted pianist) to flesh out the fast-paced story. To say the least, the novel lacks the emotional intensity of the grand Italian opera scores reduced to a Muzak-like echo in these pages, and it's hard to care about any love affair involving Segal's smug protagonisteven one that nearly destroys his marriage. Nevertheless, the graying boomers who first made Segal a hit are likely to take whatever he dishes out, as he proves once again that Only Love means never having to say you're sorry. 150,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
How can the author of a bombshell like 1970's Love Story follow up with such a long succession of dramatic duds (Prizes, 1995, etc.)? Readers are likely to occupy their minds with this question while leafing through the forgettable life and loves of Dr. Matthew Hiller, genetic engineer extraordinaire. With an alcoholic lit-professor father and a workaholic mother, young Matthew knew he was blessed to possess a talent as a pianist strong enough that one day it will carry him away from Dearborn, Michigan, forever. In college, he majors in music but also pursues an interest in medicine while carrying on a benign but creative friendship with a pretty cellist named Evie. After graduation, Evie marries her master-class instructor, and Matthew opts for med school, following up with a stint tending victims of Ethiopia's famine. There, he meets and falls hard for fellow doctor Silvia Dalessandro, an Italian super-heiress using this altruistic jaunt to escape a scheduled marriage to wealthy family friend Nico Rinaldi. Matthew and Silvia shack up together, but when Matthew is nearly killed by natives, Silvia agrees to marry Nico right away if he'll airlift Matthew to a Swiss hospital. Thus Matthew hangs on to his life but loses Silvia and--he realizes soon enough--his ability to play the piano. Heartbroken, he buries himself in research studies at Harvard, soon becoming the world's expert at destroying brain tumors through genetic engineering. Moving to New York to continue his work, Matthew rediscovers Evie (now divorced with two daughters), marries her, and lives happily until, lo and behold, Silvia appears at his office door with the biggest brain tumor of all. Will Matthew resist Silvia's fatal attraction, holding onto the family happiness he's found with Evie? Segal's brisk, oddly passionless prose does little to motivate the reader to care. (First printing of 50,000; TV rights to CBS; Literary Guild main selection; $150,000 ad/promo)
Booklist Review
Segal's newest pop novel, already slated for a CBS Hallmark miniseries, is much sleeker and less laughable than his last effort, Prizes (1995), and offers a twist on the plot of his megahit, Love Story. The king of the heartstring-maestros plays the same tune he always plays--the one about desirable young women, overbearing fathers, romantic heroes, disease, and thwarted love--in this slick and insistently feel-good melodrama about two young altruistic doctors who fall blissfully in love only to be torn apart by fate, the gods, and our appetite for glib tragedy. Silvia Dalessandro is formulaically beautiful, rich, and helpless. She wants, or thinks she wants, to escape the smothering world of her automobile-tycoon widower father and insists not only on attending medical school (rather than living a glamorous life of leisure) but also joining the Medecine Internationale and journeying to Africa to heal the desperately poor, hungry, and sick. As soon as Matthew Hiller sets eyes on her during their intensive training in Paris, he's hooked, and they make a sexy couple until Matthew is wounded, and Silvia ends up trading her freedom for his life. Unaware of her sacrifice, Matthew is devastated by her disappearance and so on and so forth. Segal keeps waving his baton and reaching for deep, operatic sorrow but manages instead to give his willingly seduced readers nothing more or less than a pleasant sedative buzz. --Donna Seaman
Library Journal Review
Segal, whose Love Story brought tears to the eyes of millionswhether from bittersweet sadness or utter boredomreturns with a new tear-jerker. Now, a doctor must save the life of an old flame. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.