Historical
In 1847, Dr Ignaz Semmelweis discovers how to save countless women from deadly childbirth infections — but his revolutionary idea is mocked. A Theory in Vienna tells the true story of his fight against medical resistance and the tragic cost of being right too soon.
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‘I bring to light a truth, which was unknown for many centuries with direful results for the human race.’ – Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis.
Imagine you’d discovered something. Something that could save hundreds of thousands of lives. But they wouldn’t let you tell anyone. Wouldn’t it drive you mad?
Young Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis uncovers the real reason thousands of young women are dying after childbirth. Yet, in mid-19th century Europe, his simple methods are ridiculed. Semmelweis faces the battle of his life to convince others that the cause is simple…
Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, A Theory in Vienna brings the remarkable story of this man to life.
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
Amazing story about a real doctor that no one believed. Reading this novel about Ignaz Semmelweiss it seems impossible that such dirty conditions for women in childbirth existed but they had and still so it has to be said in some parts of the world. The author has given us a true account of this man, his absorption into the theories he believed backed by science, against the entrenched way doctors were undertaking obstetrics in the 19th century not only in Vienna (where most of the book is set) but across Europe. There is also the backdrop of 1848 and the revolutions into which Ignaz's family are caught up in Hungary and the prejudice between Austrians and Germans (language,beliefs, medical practices) The author cleverly weaves fictional dialogue against the arguments in medical journals and schools of medicine where Semmelweiss constantly battled to be believed. His work was as important as Jenner for the prevention of deaths and yet I had not heard of him. In a male dominated world of obstetrics how ironic it was Ignaz's observations of the midwives care of pregnant women that turned his mind towards how hygiene (often basic) prevented the huge rates of mother's dying. The tragedy of his final years was hard to bear and hopefully his wife and children felt proud of the man he had been and tried to hard to share his views with the world.
Well researched and well executed, a writer with great flair for detail, well done Heidi
