This Narrow Space

“A fantastic book… . Waldman exhibits a rare self-awareness [and] shows great honesty. [His book] illustrates just how difficult it is to reconcile devotion to the healing mission with the realities of a complex life.”
—Uzodinma Iweala, The New York Times Book Review

“Waldman writes beautiful sentences and explains the intricacies of disease in ways an ordinary reader can understand… . Ultimately, he manages to find hope and meaning in very difficult situations.”
—Sandee Brawarsky, The Jewish Week

“[Waldman’s book is] heart-rending when he details [what] his young cancer patients face, uplifting when he achieves even small breakthroughs and makes a difference in their care, and inspirational when he writes of his own search for spirituality… . We empathize with his frustrations and admire his determination.”
—Chicago Jewish Star

“In his engrossing debut memoir, an American pediatric oncologist faces medical, personal, and cultural challenges during seven years as attending physician at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center… . Besides offering warm portraits of the children he treated and their distraught families, Waldman chronicles his transformation from a somewhat naïve, underprepared physician to one more politically and culturally astute. A candid and revealing portrait of a man and a nation in turmoil.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Who could imagine that a book about pediatric oncology would be an absolutely engrossing page-turner? Waldman’s experiences working with children and families facing the most intricately complicated illnesses in the most intricately complicated city become a template for probing the ambiguities of life, medicine, religion, politics, and identity. This Narrow Space exudes a generosity of spirit as expansive as the Judean Hills in which it is set. Truly a book for our times.”
—Dr. Danielle Ofri, author of What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear

“This Narrow Space ushers in a new and important voice in the literature of medicine. Waldman, caring for children with life-threatening diseases, shows that even when hope is gone for the body, there is still hope for the spirit. This book will illuminate and inspire, as a young physician transits culture and beliefs in his search for meaning in some of life’s most trying circumstances.”
—Dr. Jerome Groopman, professor, Harvard Medical School, and author of The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness

ELISHA WALDMAN is associate chief, division of pediatric palliative care, at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. He was formerly medical director of pediatric palliative care at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. He received his B.A. from Yale University and his medical degree from the Sackler School of Medicine in Tel Aviv. He also trained at Mount Sinai Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and at Boston Children’s Hospital. His writing has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review and The Hill. He lives in Chicago.

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