Touching Distance

Rebecca Abrams

may 2012 · Pan Macmillan

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‘Atmospheric and fascinating’ - Hilary Mantel

Shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize and winner of the Medical Journalists' - Association Open Book Award

In the winter of 1790, a mysterious and deadly disease strikes the unsuspecting town of Aberdeen. The victims are all women in the prime of life. Determined to save his patients, talented young physician Alec Gordon embarks on an astonishing medical quest. 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 the true story of Alexander Gordon, the first person to discover that infectious diseases were transmitted by human contact, Touching Distance is a stunning historical novel set in Scotland and the West Indies in the Age of Enlightenment. It centres on a deadly epidemic without a cure, history’s very first ‘track and trace’, and Gordon’s desperate attempts to make people understand the vital importance of hand-washing and social-distancing, over a century before they were scientifically proven. A vivid portrait of a pivotal moment in world history, it is also a universal tale of intimacy and estrangement, reason and passion, corruption and courage.

The novel’s key themes include medical whistle-blowers, doctors and midwives on the frontline of a deadly disease, the battle between scientific truth and political self-interest, Britain’s deep links with colonialism and slavery, the dangerous intersection of racism and sexism, and the impact of epidemics on women. Touching Distance by Rebecca Abrams is a novel that speaks powerfully to crucial issues we are still grappling with today.

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Rebecca Abrams is the author of seven works of fiction and non-fiction. She teaches creative writing at Oxford University and is a regular literary critic for the Financial Times. Her publications include Gardens On Fire: An Anthology of Writers in Lockdown (contributor, July 2020), Jewish Treasures From Oxford Libraries (co-editor, May 2020) and The Jewish Journey (2017). Her first book, When Parents Die, was shortlisted for the MIND award and has since become a highly respected classic in its field. She has been awarded an Amnesty Prize for her reportage on children in war.