Sometimes a hero is an ordinary person who chooses to pursue the extraordinary.

The Historical Fiction Company's 2021 Book of the Year. The compelling story of two young heart surgeons - one suffering from an anxiety and mood disorder, the other from wounds in World War II - and the amazing human heart.

Against the odds, Alec Serafeim has made a name for himself, overcoming a humiliating mental collapse in medical school to become one of just a handful of surgeons in the world who dare to operate on children's hearts. Bold and resourceful, Alec is also restless and ambitious. When the chance of a lifetime comes to join the race to perform Australia's first successful surgery using a heart-lung machine, he can't say no.

In this race, however, Alec is the long shot. With no heart-lung machines commercially available, Alec builds a machine in the hospital basement; understandably, his superiors are hesitant to allow him to use the crude machine in the operating theater. Worse, Alec and his surgical partner, Pete O'Neill, can't seem to agree on anything related to the project, jeopardizing their longstanding friendship.

But with children's lives hanging in the balance, the biggest obstacle Alec may have to overcome is himself.

Set in a fictionalized version of Perth, Western Australia in 1956, The Stars That Govern Us is a captivating character-driven historical fiction story inspired by the development of one of the 20th century's boldest inventions - the heart-lung machine.

Sign up now to get the most out of Books2Read

Discover something great at Books2Read.

Thanks for signing up for Books2Read notifications!