Frank G. Slaughter Books In Order

Publication Order of Dr. Julian Chisholm Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Frank G. Slaughter was a bestselling novelist and physician that sold more than 60 million copies of his works. Just before his fifth birthday, the family moved to Oxford in North Carolina where they lived on an expansive farm. They grew corn and tobacco on the farm even though his father worked a day job as a mail carrier. Once he graduated from high school, he proceeded to college at Duke University, where he was an active member of Phi Beta Kappa. Later on, he went to Baltimore and attended the John Hopkins Medical School for his medical studies. He then underwent surgical training at the Jefferson Hospital in Virginia, though he has asserted that his training in Baltimore probably had more impact than any other training or residency since. He got married to former operating room nurse Jane Mundy in 1933 and together they had two sons. In 1934, Slaughter moved the family to Florida where he had found a job at the Jacksonville Herman Kiefer Hospital as a staff surgeon. His stint in Florida would provide the inspiration and setting for many of his later novels. In 1938, Slaughter earned the American College of Surgeons Fellowship. By 1940, the American Board of Surgery certified him as Surgery Specialist. When World War II broke out, he served as a physician in the United States Medical Corps. By 1944, he had risen up the ranks and was a lieutenant colonel by the time he was sent to Manilla. He worked aboard the Emily HM Weder hospital ship and it is from his experiences that he wrote “Dark Garden,” a novel that harked back to the Civil War.

Frank had always been a voracious reader right from his early childhood years. He made his first attempt at writing when he got a sixty-dollar typewriter in 1935 and wrote several short stories. But only one of his short stories sold in five years and he almost lost hope. The only good thing was that the sale got him about twelve dollars and this gave him hope that he could make a career in writing. During this time, he met Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who gave him the advice to keep working on improving and that he would finally make it. In 1941, he finally got one of his larger pieces of fiction published. “None Should Die” was the semi-autobiographical narrative of an idealistic and young doctor that set up shop in a small community in the south and soon finds himself at loggerheads with the medical system authorities. It was his first attempt at a full-length novel and he rewrote it five times before he got it accepted by Doubleday. It was not all smooth sailing though as he spent several weeks working with novelist and then editor at Doubleday Books Thomas B Costain. While the book did just okay in the US, it was a major bestselling titled in Nordic countries where it was printed just before the breakout of the Second World War. While the war raged on in Europe, the underground scrupulously kept track of all the royalties due to Slaughter. By 1970, the novel had been published in more than fifteen languages across the globe.

After writing four other novels in quick succession, he decided to become a full-time author and averaged about one book a year. In an interview, he asserted that he would usually write about 100,000 words every year at a pace of about 1000 words a day. He continued writing until his last novel “Transplant,” which was published in 1987. Most of his novels were about medicine which was a specialty of his though he also included aspects of religion and history that had always held a fascination with him. His works such a “The Thorn of Arimathea” and “The Road to Bithynia” show an intersection of these themes as well as medicine. By the time of his death, Frank Slaughter had made his name as one of the greatest literary fiction authors of his time. He died in Jacksonville in 2001.

Frank G Slaughter’s “The Song of Ruth” is a rendition of the biblical story of Ruth. She is a high-born woman of Moab whose Israelite spouse had been killed by betrayal. She was so beautiful that even men in battle would stop fighting to gaze at her beauty. Having lost her husband, she is soon hitched to the dynamic general of the Israelite army named Boaz. Their love overcomes exile, war, and hatred and grows stronger every day. Ruth is a stranger living among people of a different culture some of whom think she is a spy and would do anything to destroy her. Through courage and devotion, she manages to overcome many of the challenges and become one of the most prominent women in the new land. It is a fun novel that reads like an action/romance adventure. While it is derived from the bible, it does not feel too preachy or cloying.

“Constantine” by Frank Slaughter is a retelling of the story of Constantine the Great. He was a man that had led numerous victorious campaigns and built a great empire. But it was the battle he fought against Maxentius that had the most significance in his life. It was during this battle that he saw a sign of a cross flash across the sky and heard a voice say in this sign conquer. Set in the third and fourth centuries of the Roman Empire, it tells of how the emperor was converted to Christianity and in the process dealt a death blow to paganism. It is a great primer on the Roman history of the era as it traces the rise of Emperor Constantine right from when he was a youth right up to his death. It tells of his political, military, and family struggles as he made every effort to forge a unified empire after the upheavals and mismanagement of the past few centuries.

Frank Slaughter’s “Plague Ship” is a story set high in the Andes, where an archeologist unwittingly discovered an antique tomb. But while excavating the tomb, he had unknowingly released a deadly germ from a civilization wiped out by plague more than five millennia past. It is the story of what happens when the plague starts ravaging the modern society that has no antidote for it just like their forbears. Franks tells a high stake and compelling story of intraglobal medicine. He takes his audience behind the public action of individuals that dare to work to develop an antidote to one of the deadliest plagues in living history.

One Response to “Frank G. Slaughter”

1. Lynette Hopp: 12 months ago

   The Song of Ruth by Frank G. Slaughter was a book my grandmother had and I read it as a young girl. I would love to get a copy of it if that is possible.

   Reply