Shirlene Obuobi Books In Order

Publication Order of Devoted Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Shirlene Obuobi is a University of Chicago Medical Center cardiologist and fellow who is best known for her debut novel “On Rotation.”

She is also a cartoonist and graphic artist that has accumulated a huge following on Instagram. She regularly shares her insights into medical training, healthcare, and other subjects of interest to her.
She penned and published her debut novel while she was doing medical school and residency at The Univerity of Chicago Medical Center.

The author was born in Ghana but her family moved to the US when she was just six. As a teenager, she graduated with her bachelor’s degree from St. Louis, Missouri-based Washington University.

According to Obuobi, she is a self-taught writer and artist who has always had a passion for creating. She got into medicine and particularly cardiology since she always wanted to feel that connection with patients and their loved ones.
After graduating from college, she decided to have a hybrid career as both a doctor and a creator. She particularly hopes she can continue empowering trainees that come from underrepresented communities.

According to Shirleen Obuobi, she has been drawing and writing ever since she was a child. At only six years old, she penned her very first illustrated novel and even has something she did when she was 10.

For Obuobi, writing and drawing have always been something of an outlet for self-expression that she has always had. During this time, she loved to copy illustrations and read all manner of literature.

Later on, she took several art classes as a high school student. When she went to college, she dropped into several creative writing classes, which is all the creative fiction writing training she has.

Since it is something that she has to do for self-expression, she always makes time for it despite her busy schedule as a physician. In addition to her writing, she is also the owner of a comic platform and also posts comments on her Twitter profile as well.

She tends to do much of her creative work on the fly. In fact, Shirleen Obuobi has been known to draw while doing her hospital rounds since it helps her focus.

As for writing, she does most of it on her days off and in between patients. Given her busy schedule, she usually does not have much time for the latest shows on Netflix or even much leisure time.
Still, she would not give up anything on her career as a physician and author.

Shirleen Obuobi has asserted that she got interested in penning a work of fiction after attending a Junot Diaz talk. The author encouraged African American writers to take the leap and write from experience.
As a Ghanaian American doctor who had been terrified that putting her experiences on paper would make her seem like a fraud, this is just what she needed.

What she learned was that writers of color that wrote about characters with shared experiences were often accused of writing autobiographies.

Obuobi came out of that talk feeling revitalized and that same night she finished writing the first chapter of her debut novel.

While she would soon abandon the project as she focused on her medical practice, the seed had been planted. The idea continued festering for three years before she got some significant writing done.
The earlier drafts were more in the vein of a contemporary romance but she reworked it to include several other relationships of the lead.

Over the years, Obuobi learned that she loves working with realistic characters. As such, she spent much time trying to determine each character’s personality, insecurities, and motivations.
She loves to do this so that she can weave in several threats of experience to make for some fun reading without too much exposition.

“On Rotation” by Shirleen Obuobi tells the beautiful story of Angela Appiah, a Ghanaian American.

She checks off most of the boxes for the perfect immigrant daughter for her parents.

She has managed to enroll in one of the top medical schools, has found a suitable professional boyfriend, and surrounds herself with a gaggle of loyal and successful friends.
But then everything starts falling apart as she fails the most important exam of medical school, gets dumped by her boyfriend and loses her best friend.

Meanwhile, her parents have been very disapproving as she is not following the path they chose for her. It seems like she is having a massive quarter-life crisis.

As a person that is used to working twice as hard to get to where she wanted to go, she suddenly finds herself at a loss.

She is suddenly questioning everything including her friendships, her career choice, and the fact that she tends to pick men that don’t love her back.

But then things become even more complicated with the entry of Ricky Gutierrez a sexy, thoughtful, and brilliant guy who sees her for what she is rather than what she represents.

Unfortunately, he seems to be a player and Angie is not ready to once again start chasing mirages of men. For someone that has always been in control, Angie comes to the realization that she may not have that much control over matters of the heart.

Shirleen Obuobi’s novel “Devoted” is a beautiful story that has Abigail Lingston waking up from a terrible nightmare.

She finds that she can no longer control her body and her mind has been possessed by another entity that is heartless, spiteful, and terrifying.

Following a tragic accident in which she was left with critical injuries, Abigail has been questioning her sanity. Finding herself in Fosha, a wholly new world that seems like the perfect haven, she is at a loss for what to do.
However, the perfect world is haunted by dark manifestations of Reefers that haunt its alleyways and corners as they terrorize residents with emotions that should have been extinguished years ago.

Only a few people have the means to hire the resistance which guards them with Facultas can hope to be safe from them.

Still, the holder of pure and true Facultas is Abigail, the only stranger in Fosha. But with so much pressure on her shoulders, she is at a loss on what she needs to do.