The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje. The book follows four dissimilar people brought together at an Italian villa during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The four main characters consist of: an unrecognizably burned man — the eponymous patient who is presumed to be English; his Canadian Army nurse; a Sikh British Army sapper; and a Canadian self described as a thief. The story is set during the North African Campaign and centers on the incremental revelations of the patient's actions prior to his injuries, and the emotional effects of these revelations on the other characters. The story is told through the characters' perspectives and "authors" of books the characters are reading.

Philip Michael Ondaatje is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist.