The History Behind the Novel: Ignaz Semmelweis
This historical novel is inspired by the life of Ignaz Semmelweis, a 19th-century doctor whose work helped transform modern medicine - though he only lived long enough to see it rejected rather than celebrated.
Born in 1818, Semmelweis worked in the 1840s at the Vienna General Hospital, one of Europe’s leading medical institutions. At the time, childbirth was extremely dangerous. Many women died from childbed fever, a fast-acting infection that swept through maternity wards. These deaths were widely accepted as an unavoidable part of the natural risk of giving birth.
What disturbed Semmelweis was that the death rates were not the same everywhere. One maternity ward, staffed largely by doctors and medical students, had a far higher mortality rate than another ward run mainly by midwives. Rather than accepting tradition, Semmelweis began to observe, compare, and take note.
His crucial insight came when he realised that doctors were moving directly from post-mortem examinations to women in labour, without washing their hands. Although germ theory did not yet exist, Semmelweis suspected that something carried from the autopsy room was causing the infections.
He introduced a simple but radical measure: handwashing with a chlorinated lime solution. The results were immediate. Mortality rates dropped dramatically.
Today, this seems obvious. At the time, it was deeply controversial.
Accepting Semmelweis’s findings would have meant admitting that doctors themselves were responsible for the countless deaths. Many of his colleagues resisted this implication fiercely. Semmelweis also struggled to communicate his ideas diplomatically. Frustration hardened into anger, and opposition to his ideas grew.
Despite clear evidence, his methods were gradually abandoned. He lost professional standing, became increasingly isolated, lost his sanity and died in 1865 at just 47 years of age, without ever seeing his work fully recognised. Only decades later, with the development of germ theory, was he acknowledged as a pioneer of antiseptic practice.
The novel draws on the historical reality but focuses on the human experience behind it: the cost of being right too early, the weight of preventable suffering, and the loneliness of challenging authority. It is also a story shaped by absence - particularly the voices of the women whose lives were at stake, and whose experiences were rarely recorded.
Semmelweis’s legacy is often summarised in one instruction: wash your hands. And how pertinent that is to today. Yet his story offers a deeper historical lesson. Progress does not always arrive through dramatic breakthroughs. Sometimes it begins with attention, care, and the courage to question what everyone else accepts as normal.
More than a medical milestone, Semmelweis’s life reminds us that history is shaped not only by discovery, but also by whether societies are ready to listen.
Publication Date: October 28th, 2025
Publisher: The Book Guild
Pages: 305
Genre: Historical Fiction
‘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.
Praise for A Theory in Vienna:
'A booked based on truth, and this novel didn't disappoint.'
~ Andrew, 5* Amazon Review
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Heidi Gallacher
Heidi was born in London in the Sixties. She grew up in South Wales, UK and moved to Paris as a young adult where she taught English for two years. She currently lives in Switzerland and recently completed an MA in Creative Writing.
Her first short story was published in Prima magazine (UK) in 2018. Heidi now writes historical fiction. Her first novel, Rebecca’s Choice, is set in Tredelerch - an old house in Wales that belonged to her family generations ago. This novel won an award from the Coffee Pot Book Club in 2020, Debut Novel Bronze Medal.
Her second novel, A Theory in Vienna, is set in 19th century Vienna and Budapest. It tells the incredible story of unsung hero Ignaz Semmelweis, whose life-saving discovery was ridiculed at the time.
Heidi enjoys travelling (the further North the better!), singing and writing songs, and spending time reading and writing at her Swiss chalet where the views are amazing.
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Thank you so much for hosting Heidi Gallacher today, with such an informative, fascinating article on Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, protagonist of her compelling novel, A Theory in Vienna.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club