“Actually, I have always felt this to be a book about a young couple, but even more about a father and son. When I wrote it America was in the midst of a total generation war (Vietnam, Woodstock, Haight Ashbury etc.). The relationship between Jenny and Phil contrasted sharply with that of Oliver and his father, and I think that the universal appeal may have lain in the reconciliation of the generations at the end of the book.”
Oliver Barrett IV found his true soulmate when he met and fell in love with Jenny Cavilleri. Their love was magical, exhilarating…though heartbreakingly brief, it was enough to last a lifetime. Or so Oliver told himself.
Oliver’s Story in Erich Segal’s own words
“I think it’s a much sadder book than the first…It’s the story of a boy coming to grips with a love that’s died. How do you go about getting back into life? How do you ask somebody out on a date after eight years?”
Bob and Sheila Beckwith had everything: rewarding careers, two wonderful daughters, and a perfect marriage . . . almost perfect. For what Sheila didn’t know was that Bob had once been unfaithful – only once, ten years ago during a business trip to France. What Bob didn’t know was that his brief affair had produced a son. Now a tragic accident – and one fateful phone call – will change Bob and Sheila’s life forever…
They were Harvard ’58, the class who thought they could change the world.
Danny, the musical prodigy, risks all for Harvard, even a break with his domineering father. Yet his real problems are too much fame too soon – and too many women.
Ted spends four years as an outsider. He is obsessed with climbing to the top of the academic ladder, whatever the cost.
Jason, the golden boy – handsome, charismatic, athletic – learns at Harvard that he cannot ignore his Jewish background. Only in tragedy will he find his true identity.
George, a Hungarian refugee, comes to Harvard with the barest knowledge of English. But with ruthless determination he masters not only the language but the power structure of his new country.
Andrew is haunted by three centuries of Harvard ancestors who cast giant shadows on his confidence.
It is not until their dramatic 25th reunion that the men must confront their classmates, and the value of their lives.
The Class in Erich Segal’s own words:
“This book is my life, it’s my experience from the time I was eighteen till the time I was forty-six. The Class is about the generation of people that entered college, not just Harvard where the book is set, but everybody that was eighteen in 1954 and was in his mid forties in 1983, when the 25th reunion occurs. You all come back to see what you have done with your lives and it took me twenty five years to see what I had done with mine, and to weigh myself in the balance. That is what the 600 pages are all about, you need 25 years to live first…”
Barney Livingstone and Laura Castellano are childhood neighbours who share an unforgettable friendship.
From the crucible of med school’s merciless training, through the demanding hours of internship and residency to the triumphs – and sometimes tragedies – of their daily professional lives, we follow Barney and Laura to unsettling celebrity and unsatisfying love . . . until their friendship ripens into passion.
But they have yet to learn the ultimate lesson: that their devotion to each other, even their outstanding medical gifts, may not be enough to save the one life they treasure above all others…
Doctors in Erich Segal’s own words:
“Love Story was a murmur of the heart, Doctors if you will, is a cardiogram, a long one. I wanted to explore in depth what make people like that tick, they are very special people. They are a sect unto themselves. I wrote in anger, but I finished in admiration. You never hear about the impaired physician, the wounded healers who care so much they crack.”
They met as children, innocents from two different worlds. And from that moment their lives were fated to be forever entwined.
Timothy: abandoned at birth, he finds a home and a dazzling career within the Catholic church. But the vows he takes cannot protect him from one soul-igniting passion.
Daniel: the scholarly son of a great rabbi, he is destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. And destined to break his father’s heart.
Deborah: she was raised to be docile and dutiful – the perfect rabbi’s wife – but love will lead her to rebellion. And into worlds the patriarch would never dare imagine.
Reaching across more than a quarter of a century, from the tough streets of Brooklyn to ultramodern Brasilia to an Israeli kibbutz, this is an unforgettable story of three extraordinary lives . . . and one forbidden love.
Acts of Faith in Erich Segal’s own words:
“The inspiration for this book came from my childhood. My father was a rabbi, and my grandfather was a rabbi – I broke the golden chain.
I had the worst writer’s block in my life, which is why Acts of Faith took me four years. To go over, to trespass on the territory of your own memories is a scary thing. But night has fallen on the years that have passed. This book is my catharsis.”
In the arena of life and death, the world’s most brilliant doctors and scientists vie desperately – and ruthlessly – for the ultimate prize: the Nobel.
Adam Coopersmith is a gifted and compassionate physician. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, he meets Anya, a Russian émigrée, and falls in love for the first time – only to have his career nearly destroyed.
Sandy Raven is a cutting-edge researcher whose devotion is matched only by his genius. Yet as he makes his greatest discovery, he experiences his most profound betrayal. Will he choose to live a lie or abandon his dream to seek new, more worldly prizes?
Isabel da Costa. A child prodigy, she owes all her success to her father, but though she becomes a brilliant physicist, she can’t capture her lost childhood. Ultimately she is torn between the father and the young man who holds the key to her happiness, until a shocking revelation explodes her world.
In 1979 a group of idealistic young doctors join a mission of mercy to Africa. Two of them, Matthew and Silvia, fall in love. They have one year together before they are swept apart by bloodshed and violence. Matthew has been in mourning ever since.
Today Matthew is a pioneer in genetic therapy at the very top of his field. He is appealed to by a rich man whose wife’s brain tumour has been declared inoperable by every other surgeon. When she walks through the door he sees that it is Silvia, as beautiful as ever.
He still loves her. And now he must save her life.
Once upon a time a Young and Innocent Hero set forth on a Quest. It led him to the lair of a Wicked Villian, the sort of man from whom you wouldn’t buy a used car. And yet Our Hero did buy a used car – and he lived happily ever after.
Which is why this is a fairy tale.
Fairy Tale in Erich Segal’s own words:
“In Fairy Tale justice triumphs, as it sometimes can. I used to think that truth would win out, but life isn’t always that way. It’s only in fairy tales that justice triumphs. And this is what Fairy Tale is all about. It is a simpler time and place where money isn’t important. It is about the mythical and charming Kertuffel family in the Ozarks, who are happy with their noncapitalistic existence. Their only financial needs are an occasional nickel for the Coke machine. When they inadvertently grow a money tree from magic beans, the affluence it brings is more trouble than it is worth, and they’re happy when the villain chops it down. They end up with a partridge in a pear tree and live happily ever after. It’s about indulgence in silliness and wordplay and childhood.”