In 1961, Annette Nelson, a retired grandmother from California, took an ocean cruise around the world. During the course of her three-month trip, she saved much memorabilia from the ports she visited. Fifty years later, in 2011, making use of her remembrances, her grandson, Alan Nelson, has written a fictionalized version of his grandmother’s journey. A two-part novel, “The Doctor from Ceylon” tells the tale of a middle-aged woman’s rediscovery of her own capacity to love, to withstand tragedy, and, ultimately, to come to terms with her own past. Set in Japan, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Ceylon, Aden, Egypt, and Europe during the Cold War, the novel immerses Annette Nelson and a cast of colorful characters in unexpected episodes of personal and political intrigue and violence.