State of Wonder

State of Wonder is a 2011 novel by American author Ann Patchett. It is the story of pharmacologist Marina Singh, who journeys to Brazil to bring back information about seemingly miraculous drug research being conducted there by her former teacher, Dr. Annick Swenson. The book was published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and by Harper in the United States. It was critically well received, and was nominated for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction, among other nominations. Characters Dr. Marina Singh: Protagonist - a drug company employee who reluctantly goes to the Brazilian jungle to learn more about her colleague who went missing on exactly the same mission, and to verify her mentor's drug research Dr. Annick Swenson: a fierce doctor and researcher, and Dr. Singh's former teacher Mr. Fox: CEO of Dr. Singh's company, and also her lover Dr. Anders Eckman: Dr. Singh's office mate, who reportedly died when sent on the same mission as Dr. Singh Easter: young native boy who accompanies Dr. Swenson Plot summary The novel opens with Dr. Marina Singh reading a letter from Dr. Annick Swenson to Dr. Singh's boss and secret lover, Mr. Fox, CEO of the pharmaceutical company Vogel. The letter reports the death of Dr. Anders Eckman, Swenson's colleague at a drug research site in the Amazon rainforest. When Eckman's widow begs Dr. Singh to find out what happened, Mr. Fox agrees to send Dr. Singh to the Amazon. Mr. Fox's other motive is that Dr. Swenson was given a blank check to conduct research into a new miracle drug, and refuses to inform him of her progress. Finding Dr. Swenson proves to be difficult. Dr. Singh flies to Manaus, Brazil, and finds that the only people who know Dr. Swenson's whereabouts are an Australian couple named Jackie and Barbara Bovender, who are tasked with hiding her whereabouts from the outside world. Eventually Dr. Swenson surprises Dr. Singh in Manaus, and they travel in a boat piloted by a young deaf boy named Easter to the rainforest research site, near the encampment of an indigenous people called the Lakashi tribe. The women of this tribe bear children until the end of their lives, an ability they gain from eating the bark of an endemic tree called the martin. The drug whose research Vogel is funding is one that will prevent or undo menopause and allow women to give birth throughout their lives. Over time, Dr.