George Sava (born George Alexis Bankoff, 15 October 1903 – 15 March 1996) was a British surgeon and prolific writer of Russian origin. Life Described as a "Russian exile", he was born George Alexis Bankoff on 15 October 1903. The grandson of Countess Sophia Sergeyevna Ignatieva and Count Alexei Pavlovich Ignatiev (Russian: граф Алексей Павлович Игнатьев), the former governor of Siberia, who was assassinated in 1906 for his perceived role in a plot to overthrow the Tsar, Sava's life was devoted to surgery and the pursuit of his literary ambitions. He wrote approximately 120 books under the pseudonyms George Sava, George Borodin, George Braddon, Peter Conway, Alec Redwood, and others as well as numerous non-fictional books on surgical techniques under his real name. His father was a Bulgarian who, at a time when Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire, migrated to Russia. He was a Lieutenant in the White Russian Navy when he was seventeen. He was forced to perform emergency surgery without any medical training that saved the life of a comrade which induced him to pursue a career in medicine and to become a surgeon. He died on 15 March 1996 and was survived by five children. Works He was the author of numerous books of medical autobiography, politics, history, and fiction. His book, One Russian's Story, a biography of his father Ivan, tells something of his own life as well. He was the author of the novel, Valley of the Forgotten People, which was published in London by Faber and Faber in 1941. The novel "They Came by Appointment" came soon after and is somewhat autobiographical. In November 1942, Faber and Faber in London published his account of the Chetnik resistance movement in Serbia headed by General Draza Mihailovich, The Chetniks. Sava described the book in the Preface: "The names of friends I have re-christened. I have altered dates and changed the names of places. This much is fiction: the rest is fact. The subsequent exploits of the guerrillas, the Chetniks, I have reconstructed from letters and reports. But I have a story to tell and I shall not delay in the telling." (Preface, p. 8, The Chetniks, 1942) He is also the author of The Healing Knife: A Surgeon's Destiny (1938). This book is an account of his life and his struggle to rise to the top of the medical profession from absolutely nothing. In