Surgeon Turned Author Revels in Retirement
Harvard graduate and Yale Medical School-trained doctor Carlos Garcia Saul enjoyed a 25-year career as a head and neck surgeon. Now retired, he’s living the dream in a waterfront home in the beautiful Old Northeast and beginning his second act as author of his first published novel, Caravan of Specters.
The book is a mystery torn from the pages of history, a page-turning adventure with roots in both tragedy and triumph. Set on the island of Puerto Rico in the waning days of the 19th century, Caravan of Specters tells the story of Dr. Bailey Ashford, a US Army physician who attempts to discover the reason thousands of peasant farmers, and their families, are dying from severe anemia. Ashford and all the military personnel, along with every date, place, and fact are 100 percent real, says Garcia Saul.
Puerto Rican Roots
“I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1964, the son of a lawyer and a homemaker,” says Garcia Saul. “I was the youngest of four children – two boys and two girls. My father died suddenly when I was four years old and my mother sent me to live with my grandmother, who raised me until I was about 10 years old. “
This young man from San Juan always had big ambitions. “I had wanted to become a doctor since I was very young,” Saul explains. “This was in part because I had an older brother who was always interested in pursuing a career in medicine and I thought that what he was planning sounded very interesting. He eventually studied medicine at Duke and became an obstetrician.”
In pursuit of his dream, Garcia Saul left Puerto Rico at 17 to study at Harvard. “I was very homesick,” he confides. “The winters were very cold and after the initial novelty wore off, I did not find the cloudy Boston winters particularly appealing. On the other hand, the arrival of spring in the Northeast was glorious.”
Reveling in Retirement
After graduation, Garcia Saul attended Yale Medical School. He became an ear, nose, and throat doctor and practiced medicine in Kansas for 25 years. “I decided to retire to a place that was warm and sunny, and our family fell in love with St Petersburg and just love the Old Northeast.”
It was his daughter, Cecilia, who ultimately pushed him to move to the Sunshine City.
“She had a major say in where I moved because she had visited Shorecrest Preparatory School and had fallen in love with their theater program,” Garcia Saul explains. “I moved to St Petersburg in 2017 and absolutely love living in the city. I love that there is ocean everywhere. This reminds me of my growing up years in Puerto Rico. I also like that there is a large Hispanic presence which makes me feel at home and allows me to find my favorite foods and listen to my favorite music rather easily. “
When did he decide to become an author? “By the time I moved to New Haven, Connecticut, I had gotten used to living in the Northeastern United States and the transition was a lot easier. I began to think about becoming an author right about that time. I had published several scholarly articles in diverse journals when I was younger, but this was entirely different from writing a novel. “
It wasn’t until the early days of the COVID shutdowns, however, that Garcia Saul was able to apply himself to writing fiction.
“I was living in St. Petersburg when the pandemic hit,” he notes. “I had a lot of time on my hands and remembered the stories that my grandmother told me about Dr. Ashford in San Juan when I was very little, and I decided to learn something more about his life. “
Living with his grandmother turned out to be very formative for his story – her sister was a laboratory assistant for Dr. Ashford, the protagonist.
“It was incredibly fun making up these characters, giving them life, making them sick, making them well again and seeing how they interacted with the American lieutenant who did not speak Spanish and had to learn their culture and language slowly.”
The book finally took shape in early 2023. “I talked to Amy Cianci at St Petersburg Press and immediately we hit it off,” he says. “St Petersburg Press did an absolutely fabulous job of publishing the book in a high-quality presentation with a beautiful cover both front and back.”
Life Outside of Writing
When he’s not thinking up stories, Garcia Saul’s big hobbies are boating and orchids. He says it was easy to fall in love with growing orchids because in his native Puerto Rico they grow everywhere on trees.
“It turns out that in St Petersburg, it is just warm enough that my favorite orchids will grow outside attached to trees with very little difficulty,” he says. “They suffer very minor setbacks during the colder weeks here in Central Florida but quickly bounce back and have always been able to bloom in the most spectacular fashion. I estimate I have at least 30 different orchids on my trees. I also love taking my 24-ft boat out on the Bay. Occasionally I fish with my friends. There is no end to places to go visit in the boat and beaches to explore.”
In addition to his daughter, Garcia Saul’s hobbies seem to have had a big influence on where he retired.
“For me personally, I do not think I could have found a better place than St Petersburg. In many ways it has even exceeded my expectations,” he says. “There is great weather, great food, the nicest people, a good airport to travel from, good proximity to Puerto Rico where my family still lives, awesome beaches, professional baseball, professional soccer – and the list just goes on and on.”
