When a tennis ritual evolves between Dr. Abraham Verghese and his medical student, David, a former professional tennis play, it rekindles the author's romance with tennis that began as a child. Their meetings on the court and in the hospital in the border city of El Paso eas the pain of Verghese's disintergrating marriage and soften his sense of alienation as a foreigner. As the friendship between the two men grows, the bonds between them deepen. They are in turn professor and student, confessor and keeper of secrets. aWhen David succumbs to a ghost of his past, his life is sent spiraling out of control. Forced to come to terms with David's tragic fate, Verghese gains a profound new understanding of the deepest meaning of friendship.
