Citadel
A groundbreaking novel of its time and a National Book Award winner: “[A] fine, honest, and moving a study of a young doctor” (The Atlantic Monthly).
The Citadel follows the life of Andrew Manson, a young and idealistic Scottish doctor, as he navigates the challenges of practicing medicine across interwar Wales and England. Based on A.J. Cronin’s own experiences as a physician, this book boldly confronts traditional medical ethics, and has been noted as one of the inspirations for the formation of the National Health Service.
This story has been adapted into several successful film, radio, and television productions around the world, including the Oscar-nominated 1938 film starring Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, and Rex Harrison.
“One of the most popular authors in the English-speaking world.” —The New York Times
AJ Cronin
Archibald Joseph (A.J.) Cronin was a Scottish author and physician born in 1896. He is known for such popular works as The Citadel, The Stars Look Down, and The Keys of the Kingdom. The Citadel inspired social change in the United Kingdom by helping to promote conversations about ethics in medicine and paved the way for the eventual formation of the National Health Service. His novels and novellas have been widely adapted for radio, film, and television, including the Oscar-nominated 1938 film The Citadel starring Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, and Rex Harrison, and the long-running BBC radio drama Country Doctor. Called “uncannily like Dickens” by the New York Times, Cronin received his medical degree from Glasgow University in 1925 and was appointed Medical Inspector of Mines for Great Britain in 1925. During this tenure, Cronin inspected mining outfits across South Wales, an experience that would heavily influence his writing career. Although Cronin went on to practice medicine in both Glasgow and London, his first novel, written in 1931 and titled Hatter’s Castle, became a bestseller in England, after which he devoted his time entirely to writing. He continued to enjoy widespread success as a novelist into the 1940s and 1950s, with many of his novels becoming bestsellers. By the late fifties, Cronin’s total sales in the United States had passed seven million, and his works had been widely translated across the globe. Cronin is still considered one of the English-speaking world’s most successful and appreciated authors. Cronin continued to write into his eighties, and passed away at the age of eighty-four in Montreux, Switzerland in 1981.
