Women's Book Reviews - The State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

I was in Florida a few weeks ago visiting my mother and we were discussing books that she had recently read.  She informed me that State of Wonder by Ann Patchett was really excellent. I read Bel Canto a while back and really enjoyed it so I figured another Ann Patchett book was just what I needed. I borrowed her book and began to read. I was not disappointed at all!

The story is about Marina Singh, a research doctor who works for a pharmaceutical firm in Minnesota. She and her lab partner, Anders Eckman, have
worked for many years together on a cholesterol drug. They work well together and have become good friends.

Vogel is the pharmaceutical firm that Marina works for. The company is paying for
research to take place in Brazil by a doctor named Annick Swenson. The company  is getting impatient over the fact that Dr. Swenson's research is taking so long to complete and to provide a new drug  for the marketplace. The company decides to send Anders to the Amazon to check on Dr. Swenson and to find out what the delay is. Then word comes that Enders has died of a fever in the jungle and his body will not be returned to the U.S. for burial. Now it is Marina's turn to travel to the Amazon to find the elusive Dr. Swenson and to get additional details of how  Anders died. Things just don't add up.

This is a beautifully written story which captured my interest from the first page.  There are many twists and turns, but you don't find answers until the very
end.

I highly recommend this book.