Waiting for the Monsoon by Rod Nordland review – a war reporter finds a ‘second life’ in the shadow of death

The Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times foreign correspondent provides fascinating insights into surviving his job and his 2019 diagnosis with an aggressive form of brain cancer in this inspiring journal of self-discovery

In the searing heat in Delhi in July 2019, the New York Times foreign correspondent Rod Nordland went for a morning jog across the city. It was more than 48C (120F), and the monsoon rains had arrived the previous day.

The Pulitzer prize-winning war reporter collapsed during the run, with a witness describing him reeling in circles, arms raised, before falling to the ground with a seizure. He had been struck down by an undiagnosed malignant brain tumour. Within days, Nordland had been flown back to the US by the New York Times and was being treated at the Weill Cornell medical center in New York, one of the best hospitals in the world.

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