1877. War between the Russian and Ottoman empires has devastated eastern Turkey. In Great Britain, the medical profession is all but a gentleman's club, where class plays a greater role than science or progress. In such a world, a firebrand young doctor has few prospects, with no name or wealth of his own. Journeying east, Doctor James Denniston hopes to prove himself instead as a surgeon in the war-torn Orient: a volunteer under the Red Crescent.
His is a tale of hardship, endurance, and optimism, told in letters to the woman he loves.