COURIER LIFE, NOV. 27-DEC. 3, 2020 23
LET US BE YOUR
"DESIGNATED
REPRESENTATIVE "
AND
HAVE THE RESPONSIBLE INSURANCE
COMPANY PAY TO REPAIR YOUR CAR TO
FACTORY SPECIFICATIONS AND 'DELIVER
IT TO YOU WITH THAT NEW CAR
SHOWROOM LOOK WHILE DRIVING AN
IMMEDIATE REPLACEMENT CAR RENTAL
A short drive thru the Battery Tunnel from Manhattan
Dr. David Biro of the
Bay Ridge Skin Cancer and
Dermatology, named one of
New York’s “Top Doctors”
by New York Magazine, has
written a novel.
Signed copies of the book
- This Magnificent Dappled
Sea - can be purchased locally
at the Bookmark
Shoppe, 8415 Third Avenue,
in Bay Ridge. The book can
also be found on Amazon.
Brooklynites will take
pride that the beloved
neighborhood of Bay Ridge
is featured in the story, as
Dr. Biro adores the area
in which he grew up, and
where he continues to practice
medicine.
The novel’s inspiration
came from a NY Times’
news story that Dr. Biro
read some ten years ago,
about a boy in Italy who
received a bone marrow
transplant from a Brooklyn
rabbi. Dr. Biro, himself the
recipient of a bone marrow
transplant in 1996, was intrigued
that two strangers,
an ocean apart, and from
very different backgrounds,
would match. His imagination
creates the story of
what may have transpired.
One of the questions explored
throughout the novel
is if our identities - Catholic,
Jewish, Italian – are, in fact,
so well defined. “It’s about
building bridges in this
fractured world,” says Dr.
Biro, who notes that at one
point in the novel, a rabbi,
a priest, and an imam meet
at the Bridgeview Diner for
lunch. The Bay Ridge setting
is apropos, says Dr.
Biro, because “Bay Ridge is
such a diverse community.
It has always been this wonderful
mish-mosh.”
The novel dives into the
mysteries of family origin,
while challenging the concept
of identity. It is a celebration
of the ties that unite
and bind people.
Specifically, it tells the
tale of nine-year-old Luca
Taviano who lives in a
small Italian village. His
stubborn cold is eventually
diagnosed as leukemia, and
his only hope for survival is
a bone marrow transplant.
An extensive search reveals
that a match is 3,000 miles
from his home, and with an
unlikely donor – a Brooklyn
rabbi, who happens to be suffering
from a crisis of faith.
Luca’s grandmother, Letizia,
is surprised to learn of
her grandson’s DNA profile,
and the book begins to unravel
secrets that date back
to World War II. It eventually
reveals how a Catholic
boy could have Jewish
genes.
Dr. Biro is a graduate of
the University of Pennsylvania,
Columbia Medical
School, and Oxford University.
He teaches at SUNY
Downstate Medical Center,
and continues to practice
dermatology. He is the author
of One Hundred Days:
My Journey from Doctor to
Patient, and The Language
of Pain: Finding Words,
Compassion, and Relief. He
has also been published in
the New York Times, Slate,
The Philadelphia Inquirer,
and various medical journals.
It was Dr. Biro’s father,
Dr. Laszlo Biro, a skin cancer
expert, who started the
Bay Ridge Skin Cancer and
Dermatology practice more
than 60 years ago. “The
torch has been passed on to
me,” he notes.
Dr. Biro lives in New
York City with his wife and
twin boys.
Additional information
can be found at the website,
www.davidbiro.com.
BUS INES S , B ROOKLYN S T Y LE
The Magnificent Dappled Sea...a Novel by Dr. David Biro
/www.davidbiro.com
/www.davidbiro.com