Why do some people facing difficult circumstances find and sustain hope, while others do not? And what can we learn from those individuals who hold on to hope? How is their example applicable to our own lives? In his illuminating and inspiring book, Harvard medical school professor and New Yorker staff writer Jerome Groopman strives to answer such questions. Spanning some 30 years of his clinical practice, Dr. Groopman explores the many ways in which hope contributes to healing. Complete with artfully crafted plot, character, dialogue, denoument and epiphany, the book begins from a point of abject ignorance -- when the author was a medical student and did not recognize the role of hope in patients' lives -- and goes on to chronicle Groopman's growing understanding -- and utilization -- of hope in the healing process.