by Anne Roiphe

Integrating fact and fiction, AN IMPERFECT LENS details scientist Louis Thuiller’s quest to find a cure for a fatal disease in colonial Africa, only to have his mission complicated by love. In the 1880s, cholera was devastating Egypt, and researchers competed for the ultimate prize--an antidote for the destructive illness. Louis Thuiller, with the support and backing of his mentor, Louis Pasteur, travels to Alexandria with two other scientists to study the disease, determine its cause, and formulate a remedy. While performing his experiments, Thuiller is introduced to Este Malina, an assistant in his lab. The pair appears destined for romance, but Este’s prosperous Jewish family opposes her marrying outside her own faith, and one of her former lovers, seeking revenge, charges her father with spying. Thuiller faces another hurdle as well: his French team isn’t the only one trying to find a cure for cholera--the Germans have entered the race. Set amidst the clash of culture, religion, and science, AN IMPERFECT LENS focuses on the conflicts arising in the contest for discovery.