Time is running out for four-year-old Sebastian Zair. A rare blood disorder means that a stem-cell transplant is his only hope of surviving past childhood.

His mother places her trust in the Pemberton Fertility Centre and a controversial IVF procedure which will allow her to select an embryo that is the same tissue type as Sebastian - to create a saviour sibling. But what she doesn't know is that the sword of Damocles is hanging over the Pemberton. A Nigerian couple, the Opakanjos, have just given birth to twins through IVF, but only one is their biological child. Someone has made a monumental mistake. With a major enquiry under way and pro-life campaigners on the warpath, both families are faced with agonising personal choices as well as the intrusions of an unscrupulous journalist.

Will they break under the strain? Will Sebastian survive?

About the Author

Hazel McHaffie is a trained nurse and midwife who has carried out extensive research into medical ethics and has lectured around the world. She is widely published in the medical and academic spheres, and her move into fiction is a culmination of her far-reaching medical knowledge and her creative writing talent. Her novel, Right to Die, was short-listed for the British Medical Association Book Award.

Reviews

There are very few novels which deal with the issues of contemporary medical ethics in the lively and intensely readable way which Hazel McHaffie's books do. - ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH

McHaffie's books are skillfully written to bring out the complex ethical issues we as doctors, nurses, patients, or relatives, may face in dealing with difficult issues... These books are a welcome development of what has been called the narrative turn in medical ethics. - THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL

Book Information
ISBN 9781906817879
Author Hazel McHaffie
Format Paperback
Page Count 324
Imprint Luath Press Ltd
Publisher Luath Press Ltd
Weight(grams) 380g
Dimensions(mm) 209mm * 135mm * 24mm