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QB VII

4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 · rating details · 10,019 ratings · 175 reviews

In Queen's Bench Courtroom Number Seven, famousauthor Abraham Cady stands trial. In his bookThe Holocaust --born of theterrible revelation that the Jadwiga Concentration campwas the site of his family's extermination--Cadyshook the consciousness of the human race. He alsonamed eminent surgeon Sir Adam Kelno as one ofJadwiga's most sadistic inmate/doctors. Kelno hasdenied t...more

Paperback, 432 pages

Published April 1st 1982 by Bantam (first published 1970)

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Aug 17, 2008 Gail rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Shelves: before-1986, jewish-themes

I don't like to be contradictory, but this book is not a contrived situation for Leon Uris to make a point. It's based on a lawsuit taken against Uris himself.

The basic plot involves a doctor bringing suit for slander against a Jewish author who mentions him, in a work of fiction, as being a Nazi collaborator. Since the story takes place in England, we learn much about the British legal system and the meaning of the word slander. There's plenty of tension, a satisfying ending, and a lot of tang...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Jude rated it 5 of 5 stars

Leon Uris writes a story that reaches out in the first pages and grabs you. There is no worry over the numbers of pages here; you thank the stars that it HAS heft because you don't want to finish this one. I learned more about medicine, law, the holocaust, Judaism, life changes, and what time will and won't heal than I ever thought possible in this book. Some books you live with for a while; this was some quality time.

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Jul 09, 2009 Annie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a story about a Polish man Adam Kelno who was accused of the war crime of doing improper surgeries, for example, without the use of anesthetic or removing healthy people’s reproductive organs during WWII in a Polish concentration camp. After he was tried and found not guilty he fled to remote jungle village with his family to escape what he claimed were the Jews and communists trying to discredit him as a doctor. During his time in hiding the book The Holocaust, was written by the acclai...more This is a story about a Polish man Adam Kelno who was accused of the war crime of doing improper surgeries, for example, without the use of anesthetic or removing healthy people’s reproductive organs during WWII in a Polish concentration camp. After he was tried and found not guilty he fled to remote jungle village with his family to escape what he claimed were the Jews and communists trying to discredit him as a doctor. During his time in hiding the book The Holocaust, was written by the acclaimed author Abe Cady. In it he wrote that Kelno had performed thousands of inappropriate surgeries. Kelno was infuriated that his name again be tarnished and he sued Cady and his publisher for libel (untrue statement under the demand that he be paid for this untrue discredit and the books no longer be published). The trial took place in Queen’s Bench 7 (hence the title of the book) and after a number of witnesses testified against Kelno that he had in deed performed brutal surgeries against Jews in the concentration camp. He had been part of experimental surgeries in which X-radiation was given to people’s genitals and then they were removed in what Kelno argued was to prevent cancer. However, it was more of an experiment of mass sterilization of the Jews. It was also discovered through witnesses and a medical record that was uncovered at the very end of the book that Kelno used improper anesthetic procedures as failing to sterilize himself and his instruments between the surgeries that he performed with unsafe speed. This resulted with infections and discomfort to the victims for the rest of their lives, not to mention the face that they could no longer reproduce. Therefore, the jury came up with the verdict that Kelno would not be paid for the discredit he claimed The Holocaust had inflicted on him. No only did this decision uncover the brutality that Kelno had hid all those years, but it also stood as a small payment to those Jews that were victims of these inhumane crimes.
I really enjoyed this book- it is an older book recommended by my parents. The first two thirds of the book I thought were a little slow, introducing Adam Kelno and Abe Cady’s stories prior to the trial. But the last third of the book was all about the trial and was sooo good, that it made up for the slow portion. The main thing that I will take from this book is the theme that even though it may be hard to fathom, inhumanity can occur, as it did in the holocaust and people are capable of being pushed to do extreme things, the unimaginable, in unordinary circumstances such as these.

Pg. 161- AFTER ALL, THE ONLY THING THAT IS GOING TO SAVE MANKIND IS IF ENOUGH PEOPLE LIVE THEIR LIVES FOR SOMETHING OR SOMEONE OTHER THAN THEMSELVES.”

Pg. 424- “ after learning what people can be made to do to people and after the holocaust seeing it still go on and on, I that we are wrecking our world beyond our ability to save ourselves. We have polluted our planet, and the creates who live on it. I swear to God, and we have destroyed each other. I think we’ve run out of time, and space, and I think it’s not a case of if it is going to happen, it’s only a matter of when.”

Pg 225- “You see, we mortals are so pompous that we have deluded ourselves into believing that in all of eternity, and all of the vast universe, that we are the only ones who have undergone the human experience. I’ve always believed that it’s happen before on this very earth… Perhaps there have come and gone a dozen human civilizations in the past billion years that we know nothing about. And after this civilization we are living in destroys itself, it will all start up again in a few hundred million years when the planet has all its messes cleaned up. Then, finally, one of these civilizations, say five billion years from now, will last for eternity because people will treat each other the way they ought to.”
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Apr 09, 2009 Ken rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book kept me turning the pages, and even more important, kept me thinking. Leon Uris creates two sympathetic characters at odds with each other -- both protagonists and antagonists, each of them. Whose side to be on? Who to believe?

This novel deals honestly with human nature under the most dire circumstances. Would you hurt a stranger, a friend -- a loved one? Of course not. What if your own life were at stake? Would you spare another, even if it meant your own death? In this case, a concen...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Pamela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-challenge

...this is a book I read for my Contemporary Novel class in high school and I need to re-read it again now with an adult mind. I remember it's impact on me then....I can only imagine it's impact NOW...but I need to re-read this for my kids too. For someday...they will read it too.....

Excellent opportunity to read this book again...only now with an adult mind. It's probably been 25 years since I read this novel for a Lit class in High School.

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Jan 24, 2011 Dick Edwards rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought this was an excellent book. It shows how situational a person’s personal morality can be. Uris does a good job of building up the picture of what a fine man Kelno is, admired by so many people and revered as a good doctor who has saved many lives. Then the trial shows how he became a heartless butcher in WW2 Poland, and how he was at heart an Anti-Semite who bought into the Nazi philosophy. After the war, he went back to becoming a good doctor again, but his anti-Semitic heart was stil...more

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Dec 17, 2011 Mzhenya rated it 1 of 5 stars

I didn't finish the book yet, Almost. Unless there's some kind of a punch line at the very end, it is a boring book, very much unlike Uris' other books I have read.
I enjoyed how he makes you like both characters, and I still don't know who comes out to be the bad guy. But most of the book is about an uneventful trial. This is no Perry Mason story-telling, no graphic descriptions, no court room drama, nothing really is happening for much of the book. Very disappointing.

I finished it. The end did...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Chrystal rated it 4 of 5 stars

Almost didn't want to read this because of it's obscure title, and length. So glad I finally read it. Some books you forget right away; this one will stick with me for awhile. The author uses his talent to weave an emotional roller coaster that sets up the libel trial with the reader knowing both plaintiff and defendant intimately. It's a gripping novel to the very end as the reader struggles to find out the truth.
While some parts are awful and graphic, I think any matter relating to the Holoca...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Simone rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was very disappointed. With a subject matter as interesting as this, it should have been a great book. The courtroom scenes are when this book comes alive, but they only get started around page 250, which is more than halfway in. The pages until then are spent developing the background of the two principal characters. Despite this, I feel neither character ever becomes anything more than a two dimensional cliché: the Polish, Jew-hating doctor with the explosive temper, and the misogynistic, Je...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Stacy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I really had no reaction to this book, other than an occasional grimace at events described. It was just there. Uris tells the story in a straightforward and technically correct way. He was able to keep me interested enough to continue reading, but there was really nothing that drew me into the characters' lives. Any of the author's philosophies are blatantly (and might I add arrogantly) stated. There is no art to his storytelling at all.

I am further put off by the fact that the whole plot grew...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Lynn Joshua rated it 4 of 5 stars

“For an instant he was able to cross the line and understand this strange loyalty of Jew to Jew. Those Jews who lived free in England were only there due to some quirk of fate instead of Aushwitz and every Jew knew that genocide could have happened to his own family except for that quirk of fate.

Yet, as time stood suspended, Gilray was all gentiles who never quite understood Jews. He could befriend them, work with them, but never totally understand them. He was all white men who could never quit...more

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Sep 18, 2009 Lizzie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Uris is a fabulous writer. No question. I was completely blown away by Trinity, which I fell in love with about 5 pages in. This one, not quite the same experience. For the first half of the book it seemed kind of fragmented. The parallel stories didn't connect for me, and I wasn't dying to read it every day. However, the second half is brilliant and totally recalls the excitement and lyrical mastery that Uris exhibited so beautifully in Trinity.
Uris is Jewish, and many of his books are about I...more

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Dec 11, 2010 Longblades rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 24, 2012 Anthony rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book at a hostel. It was yellow and crumbly from old age and I had absolutely no interest in reading it. I even skipped the first 100 pages. Only I went back and read them all after realizing that this might actually be an interesting read.

It is split into four parts. I first read Part II, about the writer Abraham Cady. This part is entitled The Defendant. Cady is a Polish Jew and an American who faced some major setbacks early in life but got through grief and physical injury b...more I picked up this book at a hostel. It was yellow and crumbly from old age and I had absolutely no interest in reading it. I even skipped the first 100 pages. Only I went back and read them all after realizing that this might actually be an interesting read.

It is split into four parts. I first read Part II, about the writer Abraham Cady. This part is entitled The Defendant. Cady is a Polish Jew and an American who faced some major setbacks early in life but got through grief and physical injury by writing about it. His stories sell well and he rides the waves of fame and ambition to a point of selfish indulgence but also to self-realization. He finally realizes his magnum opus, a tribute to his father called The Holocaust.

The back of the crumbly book said that the story was about a libel case against this author who reveals another man named Adam Kelno as an evil Nazi-collaborator who conducted cruel surgical experiments on thousands of Jews. I thought that Abe Cady seemed like an alright guy--perhaps a little flawed in his relationship with his wife and a little selfish in his ambitions, but nonetheless still respectable enough not to write lies about another person. So I went back and read Part I: The Plaintiff.

The Plaintiff is Adam Kelno. He is Polish, Catholic, and not a Communist. He was a prisoner at the Nazi concentration camp at Jadwiga where he allegedly saved many lives despite being trapped under the umbrella of Nazi control. It is revealed that Kelno does not like Polish Communists, whom he associated with Jews, and that Kelno is a Polish nationalist himself. After suffering but surviving the Nazis Kelno escapes to Poland where he is accused of war crimes by Polish Communists. He manages to escape again, this time to Sarawak which is at the time a British protectorate. He moves his family to the Malaysian jungle as only the 30th doctor to ever reside on the island. Life is difficult here--the native inhabitants are extremely skeptical of the outside world and refuse Kelno's expertise based on their own superstitions. After a bout of alcoholism and tensions with the British authorities, Kelno pulls through and manages to raise his family on the island for about a decade while gaining respect from the natives and reforming their medicine and diets as well. This all paints Kelno as a pretty good guy who lived a tough life, but their are still suspicions of his past actions at Jadwiga.

Part III
London is the scene of the novel's proper action. Robed, unemotional proper and stiff is how I imagine a London courtroom. The judge (and lawyers, too?) also wear those ridiculous wigs. It almost seemed like a joke to me in the past, but in unveiling the respectability of these traditions is where the novel surprises. There's a major theme here of modern London (post-WWII) versus old London (pre-WWII). When Kelno moves his family back to England after years in the jungle, his wife, feeling ill-adjusted to the change of atmosphere, makes an vivid comparison of modern London to the London she once new. She compares the nudity and primitiveness of Sarawak to the short skirted girls and decorated, girlish-looking guys of London rebelling against years of order and traditions that have so obviously fallen to pieces with the atrocities of the war. It's kind of silly, but one of many tangential off-topic thoughts in this book that rings with truth.

Part III is kind of the calm before the storm. The author has built the rising actions so well that it is not deterrent but rather a welcome calm for the reader to gather his thoughts about the two men while cruising through the details and orders of the court that will demarcate the boundaries of the truth that shall come. Here the lawyers and the judge also enter the story with brief histories of their learning and reputation. The judge is as should be expected: old, stoic, reserved of any emotion, and possessing a sharp sense of reasoning that wouldn't miss a detail. He is the authority of order. Both lawyers are young and ambitions. Both lawyers have an understudy to assist them as well.

Well, what more is there to say that couldn't be conveyed better than by reading the book yourself? As any courtroom plot with interesting characters who both claim the truth, the action in Part IV is entertaining. Cady and Kelno battle it out and at times it is brutal. It is a bit unnerving at times as witness take the stand and have to dig up brutal Jadwiga memories of having their testicles or ovaries removed. I cringed my way through it and tried to empathize with the characters but nothing about concentration camps is easy to digest. I can't reveal the verdict for I do not want to spoil it but I can say that this book does a fine job of getting into the type of thought that may have run contagiously through any Nazi camp like Jadwiga--a kind of dark and ambiguous freedom that blocked out any real-world responsibilities and replaced them with the unshakable collective will of the Nazi regime. IT was a place for madness to run rampant and heroes under such conditions must have been far and few between under such conformative pressure with threats of torture or death looming not far in the distance.

The London courtroom (Queen's Bench VII) is the hero of this novel as both characters seem motivated by selfish ambitions and the dark ambiguity of Jadwiga does not allow for much clarity on the past. QBVII sheds light on Polish history and the value of English traditions and the Law that they gave birth to centuries ago. Without such tradition how could any order survive the darkness of crimes like those at Jadwiga?
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Mar 31, 2012 Avital Gertner-Samet rated it 5 of 5 stars

A libel suit is brought against an author by an English doctor for a passage in his bestseller book that describes the doctor's actions as a prisoner/doctor in a concentration camp during ww2. In order to defend himself the author must prove the truth...

This incredible story is based on the author's own experience when a libel suit was brought against him in 1963 regarding his famous book: "Exodus".

Uris, honed his incredible storytelling skills in this great legal drama that involves history as...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Jeff Crosby marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, historical-fiction, suspense, ibooks, backlog, stalled

Okay, this is Kent's fault.

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Mar 02, 2013 Dirk rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 18, 2013 Adam Stone rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

QB VII is a book about a court case between a highly respected Polish Doctor Sir Adam Kelno who had been knighted for his work in medical research and the best selling writer Abraham Cady who has written a book about the Holocaust and has named Dr Kelno as a war criminal who had someone who performed special operations on people in the Jadwiga concentration camp during the Second World War where he was first incarcerated and then forced to work as a prisoner/doctor during his time there.

The boo...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Jennifer Hutchinson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, classics, personal-favorites

I have fond memories of this book which is quite funny when I think about it because the subject matter is pretty rough. I was 15 when I read the book for the first time and I am still not quite sure why I decided that I wanted to read the story. I watched the mini series with my mother and she was and is a huge Leon Uris fan so I am sure that had something to do with it.

Up until this point I had never tackled a book that, for all intensive purposes, did not fit into a specific category and was...more

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Jun 07, 2010 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, fiction

Having read Exodus a few weeks ago, I really enjoyed this fictionalized account of the libel lawsuit brought against Uris after the publication of Exodus. In the first third of the QB VII, we meet Dr. Adam Kelno, who has cleared his name as a war criminal after his term as a prisoner/doctor at a notorious concentration camp and his subsequent flight to the remote jungles of the British Empire to escape further scrutiny. The second third of the book explores the life of Abraham Cady, Uris’s alter...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book a long time ago, and just recently re-read it, to see if it would be good for Book Club. It is still an excellent book! I had forgotten a lot of it, but not its quality.

It is essentially the story of two men, one who survived the holocaust in Poland, and the other the son of a survivor who becomes a writer and eventually writes a book about the camp that wiped his family out. In it he mentions the other man, stating that he performed medical experiments on prisoners, and that ma...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Katie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-expected-so-much-more-from-you, worst-book-ever

Bottom line, this never should have been published. It is unquestionably one of the worst books I've ever read in my entire life---worse than books that merely have stupid plots or challenged writing, because those are just superficial flaws of superficial books. No, QB VII is the worst kind of book in that it was written by a talented author, yet it insults, manipulates and proselytizes ad nauseum.

If you believe the inside cover, you'll pick up this book thinking you're going to hear the story...more Bottom line, this never should have been published. It is unquestionably one of the worst books I've ever read in my entire life---worse than books that merely have stupid plots or challenged writing, because those are just superficial flaws of superficial books. No, QB VII is the worst kind of book in that it was written by a talented author, yet it insults, manipulates and proselytizes ad nauseum.

If you believe the inside cover, you'll pick up this book thinking you're going to hear the story of two men from opposing sides of a libel suit: Adam Kelno, a surgeon who spend several years practicing in a concentration camp while being held as a political prisoner by the Nazis, sues writer Abraham Cady for including allegedly defamatory remarks about Kelno's actions at the camp in his latest book about the Holocaust. Is Kelno evil, an anti-Semite on the same plane as the Nazis, or is he a decent man who was forced to do terrible things as a Nazi puppet?

Sounds promising, right? Yeah, I thought so too. My mistake.

Uris takes what could have been a great story and instead uses it as a platform to continue his personal vendetta against the Dr. Kelno in his own life: Dr. Wladislaw Dering, a doctor Uris accused of atrocities in his book Exodus, which led to the longest libel proceeding in British history (thanks, New York Times obituary on Uris). Of course, writing about one's own life isn't inherently a mistake, but this particular subject was clearly too close to Uris for him to write about it objectively.

He spends the first half of the book introducing us to the two characters, and because Cady is written as an insufferable misogynist and Kelno is a generous family man, I think we're supposed to assume that Uris doesn't have an agenda and wants to show the ambiguity of ethics. Soon, though, it becomes apparent that Kelno is being written into a corner and for 20+ years has been hiding his hatred of Jews---no better evidenced than in the last few pages of the book, where he entirely uncharacteristically (view spoiler) I'm sorry, but...what???

Uris didn't "show" anything; he just "told" me what to believe, and no way did I believe Kelno's transformation from human to evil reincarnated. Rather, Cady's flagrant mistreatment of women made him the most believable asshole in the book. Cady---who for all intents and purposes is Uris---clearly hates us, the feeble, lesser sex, yet doesn't seem aware of how that contradicts his platform for equality.

This book is riddled with hypocrisy, legal shakiness and bias, and had it been written about any subject other than the Holocaust, I think people would more readily admit that. I almost couldn't stomach it, and very, very rarely do I give up on a book, but it was all I could do not to skim the pages two at a time to get to the end.

It's too bad: Mila 18 and Trinity have been on my to-read list for ages, and I'm not sure after this I can give old Leon another chance. (less)

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Oct 18, 2010 Roberta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

I had to read this book for a history class in high school because I already read Exodus which the rest of the class was reading.

I loved the surprise ending and twists and turns of the entire book.

The idea that someone can hide their past when the Germans were such meticulous record keepers is ludicrous in that day and age. Even now when naysayers say that the Holocaust was simply a Jewish lie has to take a second look at all the records and try and refute them. They rarely succeed.

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Jul 08, 2012 Carl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stunning exploration about a doctor accused of criminal operations during WWII. Uris does a great job of showing both sides of this delicate situation and then launching us into the trial where secrets and truths are revealed, often bringing up old wounds that have never healed. Uris is a master storyteller. Why four stars? Well, when he moves into personal, the dialogue feels very simplistic. Otherwise, well worth the read.

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Jun 03, 2012 Mona is currently reading it

So far not loving this book. But have not gotten to the court room section yet. All around unlikable characters. A bit ddisappointing since Trinity by Uris is one of my all time favorite books.
Okay the trial made the book more interesting. I.think the first part of the book.where background on the two antagonists was given could have been a.lot shorter. Abe cady did not get any more likable. He is a misogynist. And he was the good guy.

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Jul 29, 2012 Guru Prasad. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Who can write a better story about the Holocaust from a Jew's viewpoint. Simply amazing courtroom drama. It was worth the search i made to get my hands on this book. Amazing legal intricacies explained in the book that shows the amount of research and efforts the author has put into to bring about this amazing piece of work.

Truly a masterpiece and a must read for all those who love Legal fiction.

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May 30, 2009 Renie rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book, about alleged atrocities during the Holocaust for which Doctor Adam Kelno is being tried, has a sound foundation. However, the context gets bogged down in several places, descriptions and topics branch off into mundane territories, and the reader is left desiring more information at book's end. As is, this is not a book I'd recommend, however in a different author's hands, it might have been.

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Aug 21, 2011 Wendy Bruce rated it 5 of 5 stars

The book tells the tale of a knighted physician's court battle as he tries to preserve his reputation after a novelist accuses him of performing sadistic procedures on the prisoners of a concentration camp. I really enjoyed this book because of the emmotional roller costers endured while trying to figure out if the accusations are true or false. I didn't want to put this book down!

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Apr 12, 2009 Nathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I would not call QBVII the best of Uris' books. The characters at times seemed a bit exaggerated, particularly the antagonist and protagonist. And I think that other books have handled the "ordinary man pushed to do horrible things" scenario in a more insightful manner. But despite it's flaws I did find myself looking forward to picking it up again every time I had to put it down.

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May 06, 2013 Marc Dauphin rated it 4 of 5 stars

A huge novel.
A bit outdated in its style, yet the content and the plotline are truly contemporary. As an author and a veteran, I enjoyed the interaction between Abraham Cady and his editor. But it's the trial that is the book, and the cliffhanger. This book, and Mila 18 inspired me to write about the Jewish Rebellion in the Warsaw Ghetto. One of my top ten favourite reads.

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About Leon Uris

Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 - June 21, 2003) was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.

Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna (Blumberg) Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a pa...more Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 - June 21, 2003) was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.

Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna (Blumberg) Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a paperhanger, then a storekeeper. William spent a year in Palestine after World War I before entering the United States. He derived his surname from Yerushalmi, meaning "man of Jerusalem." (His brother Aron, Leon Uris' uncle, took the name Yerushalmi) "He was basically a failure," Uris later said of his father. "He went from failure to failure."

Uris attended schools in Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, but never graduated from high school, after having failed English three times. At age seventeen, while in his senior year of high school, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Uris enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served in the South Pacific as a radioman (in combat) at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and New Zealand from 1942 through 1945. While recuperating from malaria in San Francisco, he met Betty Beck, a Marine sergeant; they married in 1945.

Coming out of the service, he worked for a newspaper, writing in his spare time. In 1950, Esquire magazine bought an article, and he began to devote himself to writing more seriously. Drawing on his experiences in Guadalcanal and Tarawa he produced the best-selling, Battle Cry, a novel depicting the toughness and courage of U.S. Marines in the Pacific. He then went to Warner Brothers in Hollywood helping to write the movie, which was extremely popular with the public, if not the critics. Later he went on to write The Angry Hills, a novel set in war-time Greece.

According to one source, in the early 1950's he was hired by an American public relations firm to go to Israel and "soak up the atmosphere and create a novel about it". That novel would be Exodus, which came out in 1958 and became his best known work. Others say that Uris, motivated by an intense interest in Israel, financed his own research for the novel by selling the film rights in advance to MGM and writing articles about the Sinai campaign. It is said that the book involved two years of research, and involved thousands of interviews. Exodus illustrated the history of Palestine from the late 19th century through the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. It was a worldwide best-seller, translated into a dozen languages, and was made into a feature film in 1960, starring Paul Newman, directed by Otto Preminger, as well as into a short-lived Broadway musical (12 previews, 19 performances) in 1971. Uris' novel Topaz was adapted for the screen and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Uris' subsequent works included: Mila 18, a story of the Warsaw ghetto uprising; Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin, which reveals the detailed work by British and American intelligence services in planning for the occupation and pacification of post WWII Germany; Trinity, an epic novel about Ireland's struggle for independence; QB VII, a novel about the role of a Polish doctor in a German concentration camp ; and The Haj, with insights into the history of the Middle East and the secret machinations of foreigners which have led to today's turmoil.

He also wrote the screenplays for Battle Cry and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Uris was married three times: to Betty Beck, with whom he had three children, from 1945 through their divorce in 1968; Margery Edwards in 1969, who died a year later, and Jill Peabody in 1970, with whom he had two children, and divorced in 1989.

Leon Uris died of renal failure at his Long Island home on Shelter Island, aged 78.

Leon Uris's papers can be found at the Ransom Center, University of Texas in Austin. The collection includes all of Uris's novels, with the exception of The Haj and Mitla Pass, as well as manus(less)

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Quotes from QB VII

“Who here wants to be a writer?' I asked. Everyone in the room raised his hand. 'Why the hell aren't you home writing?' I said, and left the stage.” — 22 people liked it

“Too many writers start with a good idea and carry it through the first chapters, then fall apart because they had no idea where the top of the mountain was in the first place.” — 5 people liked it

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avg rating	preview: QB VII Goodreads rating: 4.07 (10019 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/426825.QB_VII?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359742726l/426825.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/426825.QB_VII?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]QB VII by Leon Uris[/url]

QB VII

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