WINNER OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTION (1992)
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE (1992)
WINNER OF THE GOLDEN MAN BOOKER (2018)
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje wears the triple crown: it is profound, beautiful and heart-quickening.” —Toni Morrison, author of Beloved

“The English Patient is one of the finest Canadian novels ever written.” —The Globe and Mail

“The words brilliant and beautiful have often been used to describe Michael Ondaatje’s writing. . . .  The English Patient artfully blends history with mirage, doomed love affairs with the bloodiness of war, and the real with the surreal to brew a novel that is rich, shadowy and haunting.” —Vancouver Sun

“A staggering achievement.” —Calgary Herald

“A stunning tour de force of fine writing. With great skill and unmistakable compassion, Ondaatje weaves the mingled histories of his protagonists into a rich tapestry. Inventive, original and beautifully rendered.” —The London Free Press

“Some writers have an ear for the language; others have an eye for the land. Michael Ondaatje possesses both these qualities, and he also has something much rarer: an extraordinary gift for evoking the sense of touch. To read him is to feel alive in your skin.” —The Gazette (Montreal)

“He has enveloped the reader in a rare and spellbinding web of dreams . . . He has fashioned a magic carpet of a novel that soars across worlds and time.” —Pico Iyer, TIME

“Ondaatje’s novel about love and confusion set at the end of the Second World War follows a small group of shell-shocked characters. In descriptive prose of spectacular beauty, he invents a desert world which is both physical and imaginative. This is one of the few truly great post-war novels.” —The Irish Times

“A beautifully written, compelling novel.” —The Wall Street Journal

“There are books that change the shape of literature. . . . The English Patient is such a book.” —Books in Canada

“A narrative of astonishing elegance and power . . . It should be recognized as one of the finest novels of recent years—large, rich and profoundly wise.” —Mirabella