Going to St. Ives

The mother of a dictator in an unnamed country in sub-Saharan Africa questions the very nature of her motherhood while on a medical visit to the U.K. The visit triggers a profound moral dilemma and a chain of events with great personal and political aftershocks. What would you do if your son was a monster; a dictator of an “empire” who murdered hundreds of thousands of his countrymen? May N’Kame has glaucoma and has gone to St. Ives to have laser surgery performed by Dr. Cora Gage, a preeminent practitioner in the field. On the day of her surgery Dr. Gage makes a plea to Mme. N’Kame to persuade her son to commute the death sentences of four prominent physicians who refuse to carry out the son’s orders. Mme. N’Kame is willing to grant this favor — if the doctor will grant a genuinely uncommon one in return.