The Great Experiment

Paris, winter 1666. Marie Quaro, a talented girl of 15, is living in the house of the famous doctor Jean-Baptiste Denys, physician to the court of Louis XIV. She has miraculously recovered from the deadly pox, and Denys, who treated her, has invited her to his home to copy books and documents for him in her fine handwriting. His true intention, however, is entirely different: Denys plans to use Marie’s blood for his daring but controversial medical experiments. This historical novel deals with an actual person, an ambitious and groundbreaking physician who believed that the remedy for disease and epidemics lay in human blood. Under the nose of the clergy who saw his work as heresy, he carried out pioneering research that included the transfer of blood from animals to humans, and was preparing for what he called “the Great Experiment”: blood transfers from one human being to another. But Marie, whom he intended to use in his research, spoils his plans.

In this enthralling, suspense-filled novel, the author draws us into the nooks and crannies of a turbulent period in the history of culture, science and religion. Only in a time of upheaval like this could a poor girl like Marie, the daughter of a mask-maker, die and come to life again, visit Versailles Palace, learn about life from a simple washerwoman who had traveled to the Holy Land, and love almost to death. The central question is: Will this man, who has dedicated his entire life to his mission and fallen along the way, also have room in his life for love?