Dr. Fenwick is a physician of rising reputation in a prosperous English town, a man of science who trusts only what his scalpel can reveal and his logic can证明. But his certainty crumbles when Dr. Lloyd arrives, a rival healer who practices mesmerism and insists that invisible spiritual forces govern the body as much as any physiciandoctor. Their rivalry becomes a war between worldviews: Fenwick's cold materialism versus Lloyd's conviction that the soul is as real as the flesh. The clash reaches its climax on Lloyd's deathbed, where the dying doctor delivers an accusation that reverberates through Fenwick's carefully ordered life... and perhaps beyond the grave itself. What follows is a descent into mystery, as the rational physician confronts phenomena his training told him were impossible. Lytton, master of Victorian sensation, weaves a darkly compelling tale of supernatural medicine and the limits of rationalist certainty, asking what remains of a man's soul when science can no longer explain his world.
