Daunt Books

Anne Roiphe's thrilling historical novel is set in Alexandria in the 1880s. Louis Thuillier, a chemist from the laboratories of Louis Pasteur, is sent to try and prevent the spread of a cholera epidemic that is ravaging the city, while battling to win the heart of Esta, the daughter of a Jewish doctor. Interesting exploration of the meeting of science and religion in 19th century Alexandria with almost gluttonous descriptions of the cholera victims: "pools of fecal liquid gathering by her hips, the illness taking over her body like a colonial power, killing everything in its way."

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