A Theory in Vienna – in which Ms Gallacher tells the story of Dr Semmelweis

As a woman, I have of course heard of Dr Semmelweis – especially given my interest in history. This, after all, is te man who revolutionised the care of birthing women by the simple expediency of introducing hand washing. Yup. Hand washing. Prior to the 19th century, most births took place at home, te mother helped through her ordeal by female relatives and midwives. Then came hospitals and maternity wards, with male doctors overseeing childbirth. Death rates soared. Why? Because the attending doctors weren’t only attending the mothers – they were attending other patients as well as performing autopsies…

And then, along came Dr Semmelweis,  but as Ms Gallacher shares in her post below – and in her recently released A Theory in Vienna – introducing change is never easy!

Researching a Life Before It Was Understood: Writing History into Fiction

Writing a historical novel begins, for me, with a responsibility: to listen carefully to the past before attempting to re-imagine it. When I decided to write about Ignaz Semmelweis, I knew that research would not simply provide background detail – it would shape the emotional and ethical core of the novel.

Semmelweis’s life sits at a strange intersection of documentation and silence. Certain aspects of his work are well recorded: hospital statistics, professional correspondence, medical publications. Other areas – his inner life, his domestic relationships, the texture of his daily existence – are far less visible. The challenge was not a lack of material, but learning how to read what was available with sensitivity.

One of the most demanding aspects of my research was resisting the pull of modern hindsight. It would be easy to approach Semmelweis’s story armed with contemporary medical knowledge and moral certainty. It is much harder to inhabit a world in which germ theory does not yet exist, where disease is explained through imbalance, atmosphere, or fate.

To do this, I immersed myself in 19th-century medical thinking: not only what doctors knew, but how they reasoned. I visited museums with exhibitions on the medical procedures of the time. Textbooks, lectures, and professional debates from the period revealed a medical culture built on hierarchy and authority. Senior figures were rarely questioned, and new ideas were expected to fit within existing frameworks, rather than to overturn them.

Understanding this context was essential. It allowed me to portray resistance to Semmelweis as something complex and troubling: a system protecting itself from destabilising truths.

Researching the institutional setting was equally important. The Vienna General Hospital was one of Europe’s foremost medical centres, a place of innovation as well as rigid tradition. Records of ward structure and daily routines helped me understand how medicine was practised on the ground.

I paid particular attention to descriptions of the maternity wards – spaces where women entered at their most vulnerable and often did not leave alive. Mortality statistics tell one story, but contemporary descriptions of overcrowding, poor ventilation, and the routine movement of doctors between autopsy rooms and labouring women reveal another. These details were not included to shock, but to ground the novel in the sad, lived reality.

Vienna itself also mattered: its social stratification, its professional rivalries, its emphasis on reputation. Semmelweis’s position as an outsider within this environment – culturally and professionally – sharpened the stakes of every conflict he faced.

One of the striking aspects of the research was how little direct testimony survived from the women most affected by Semmelweis’s work. Mothers dying of childbed fever appear in records as mere numbers, diagnoses, or brief notes. Their voices are almost entirely absent.

As a woman writing this novel, that absence weighed heavily. It required careful ethical consideration. Rather than inventing speeches or projecting modern consciousness onto these women, I focused on the conditions surrounding them – how their suffering was normalised, minimised, or ignored.

Semmelweis’s insistence on handwashing gains much of its moral force from this silence. He paid attention where attention was scarce. Researching the lives of women in childbirth during this period underscored how radical that attentiveness truly was.

Historical fiction requires a constant negotiation between accuracy and imagination. Where records were clear, I followed them closely. Where they fell silent, I asked what could plausibly be felt, said, or thought, in keeping with the era. I particularly enjoyed writing the dialogue.

Letters written by Semmelweis in his later years were particularly challenging. They reveal a man increasingly consumed by frustration and moral urgency. My aim was to stay close to what the evidence suggested about the cost of his isolation.

What surprised me most during the research process was how contemporary many of the tensions felt. Institutional resistance, professional pride, the marginalisation of care-focused work – these are not relics of the past. Seeing them play out in Semmelweis’s life gave the historical material more depth.

Ultimately, research did more than support the novel; it shaped its questions. Rather than asking simply what happened, I found myself asking why change is so often delayed, and who pays the price for that delay.

Writing about Semmelweis meant accepting that history does not always move at the pace of truth. Research allowed me to write historical fiction that honours both the facts and the human cost behind them.

*****

Thank you, Ms Gallacher – and now onto the book!

A Theory in Vienna

by Heidi Gallacher

Blurb:

‘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.

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/47aKa7

The Book Guild Buy Link: https://bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/historical/a-theory-in-vienna

Author Bio: 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.

Author Links:

Author Page on Publisher’s Website: https://bookguild.co.uk/our-authors/heidi-gallacher

Twitter / X: https://x.com/heidigallacher

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Deejotix

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Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Heidi-Gallacher/author/B08192R91P

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/86827681