In Europe, in the age of the Black Death, Spanish-born physician Alejandro Canches tackles the greatest challenge of all: facing death and overcoming it. While in the near future, the world hit by a pandemic in the aftermath of a bioterrorist attack in the U.S., a group of men, women, and children band together for survival against nature and human enemies, huddling in the only corner of the world they know. Among them is physician Janie Crowe. Etched into Janie’s memory is the ancient journal of a Spanish man of medicine – a man who fought for survival in his own age of plague. The medieval doctor's old diary may be the only chance to save humanity. Separated by more than six hundred years and united by more than a common mission, two doctors fight to put an end to the most destructive plagues in history.

This apocalyptic thriller interweaves the past and the near future. Drawing on the book's parallel historical connection, the cover illustration for this Spanish edition of The Physician's Tale catches the reader’s attention using a visual paradox: an early Renaissance portrait of a woman wearing a modern gas mask. The typographic composition mirrors the dual timeline in the novel too, with the geometric features of a sans serif typeface in the industrial style contrasting the sharp, graceful serif font in the humanist style.