Set during the Great Depression, this historical fiction novel tells the true story of two ex-school teachers and a dietician, who can’t find work because she’s black, that work together to develop a vaccine destined to save millions of lives, mostly young children.

It’s awful. It’s awful. You wonder how they can survive the crisis. They’re suffocating. They’re choking. They become completely blue. They cannot overcome the cough, and you have the impression that the child is dying in your hands.” —Dr. Camille Locht, Pasteur Institute, France