The Hospital by the River: A Story of Hope
by Dr. Catherine Hamlin with John Little
Monarch Books, illustrated, 2004
308 pages

When The Hospital by the River: A Story of Hope was first published in Australia in 2001, it became an instant bestseller. To date, it has sold more than 50,000 copies and is now available in the USA and Britain.

In her tender and candid account of 45 years of service to poor women suffering from obstetric fistula, Dr. Hamlin weaves her own story together with the history of the hospital and that of her adopted country Ethiopia.

Book Reviews

This book will haunt you forever. It touches you in a way you can never imagine as it makes you realize that a bad day for you is not nearly as bad as a lifetime for others.

~Michele Perry, The Blurb

If there is a tribute, besides the BBC and Australian TV films honoring the Hamlins and their hospital, it is the undying devotion to a cause by a couple who left 'civilization' and went where their religious teachings took them. Their mutual devotion to each other, and their exceptional humility, are both worth considering through The Hospital by the River.

~Hayward Allen, EERPCV

You will also find the book fascinating and utterly compelling from the perspective of the aging, widowed physician whose genuine love of country, compassion and perseverance with the 'fistula pilgrims' continues four decades-plus.

~Ellen Shively, SDPCA