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QB VII by Leon Uris is a fictional book, taking place in the Queen’s Bench Courtroom Number Seven, a trial of a doctor in a concentration camp. Mr. Uris is an American author who is mostly known for his two historical fiction books Exodus and Trinity.

Famous author Abraham Cady is being sued for slander. In his best-selling book, The Holocaust, there’s a paragraph asserting that Sir Adam Kelno was a sadistic surgeon in Jadwiga Concentration Camp.

Kelno, of course, denies the accusations. During the trial, Cady is put on the defense over and over again, his reputation and legacy in danger.

QB VII by Leon Uris is a great story that is well put together. The whole book forces the reader to piece the truth themselves, as well as try to figure out the meaning of “slander”.

This a novel, but there is much proof that the horrible treatment and experiments described, are based on factual information. I also enjoyed reading about how the English legal system work, a fascinating subject all by itself.

Like other books I read by Mr. Uris, this one also grabs the reader from the first page to the last. If I had to complain about anything, it would certainly be the obscurity of the title, which almost made me not pick it up.

Mr. Uris does certainly does not pull any punches. The horrifying testimony of the victims is difficult to read, especially with the knowledge that the barbaric large-scale Nazi sterilization projects did happen.

While the subject is, indeed, very serious, there’s also playfulness within the narrative. I have no idea how Mr. Uris managed to do that, but it just shows his talent that he managed to pull this off. Especially if you consider the subject.

There’s much hypocrisy, bias, and legal maneuvers in the book, and could have been written about almost any other slander case. The author is very sensitive to the subject and did not contrive some absurd situation to make a point.

I discovered that QB VII was based on Mr. Uris’ experience. After he wrote Exodus, he was being sued by a former doctor in Auschwitz (Dering v Uris). The defendants agreed that the footnote was defamatory to Dering, they also insisted it was true to substance. While the court did rule for Dering, it awarded him the smallest amount possible of damages (halfpenny). ( )

4/14/22

I had no idea what this book was about when I picked it out of my library to read, and still, halfway through wasn't sure where it was going. The first half of the book is dedicated to introducing two men, one an accomplished doctor, Sir Adam Kelno, and the other, Abraham Cady, a renowned writer. The second half of the book is the heart-stopping, tense libel trial that results from a paragraph in Cady's book titled "The Holocaust" where he mentions Dr. Kelno in connection with horrific medical experiments carried out during the war. Finally, the title, which stands for Queen's Bench, Courtroom Seven, became clear. I found the subject matter fascinating and literally read the last hundred pages of this book in one sitting. Leon Uris is a suburb writer. His characters literally leap off the page. They are still in my head and will be for a long time to come. ( )

Loosely based on libel trial related to Uris' Exodus novel ( )