Touching Distance

Based on a true story of a male midwife battling an epidemic in a small community, this is a stunning historical novel of passion, reason, and hidden corruption set in 1790s Scotland After training in the great medical schools of Europe, Alec Gordon has returned to Scotland to take up the post of physician to the Aberdeen Dispensary. Alec has ambitious plans for modernizing medical practice in the town, starting with the local midwives, whose ignorance and old-fashioned methods appall him. But his dreams of progress are thrown into disarray when a mysterious disease suddenly strikes the town, attacking and killing every newly delivered mother for miles around. Desperate to save his patients' lives, Alec sets out on an astonishing medical quest to conquer the disease. What he discovers will shake the small, close-knit community to the core and change his own life?and that of his wife and young daughter?forever. Based on a true story, this stunning historical novel brings to life a fascinating period in world history, exploring the tragic limitations of knowledge and the deep-seated tension between reason and passion in the Age of Enlightenment.