Master of His Fate

A newspaper report interrupts the leisurely talk at London's Hyacinth Club, bringing a baffling hospital case into a circle of artists, journalists and doctors. A young woman in Paris has lost her memory after accepting shelter beneath a stranger's umbrella. Among the club members is Julius Courtney, whose striking health, wide interests and easy confidence make him a favourite, while his friend Dr. Lefevre is drawn into questions about the forces that sustain human life.

J. Maclaren Cobban blends a medical mystery with speculative science in Master of His Fate. Hospital scenes follow Lefevre at Lady Mary Fane's bedside, attempting to restore her through will and electrical stimulation. His careful professional manner contrasts with his growing alarm at a condition he cannot explain. Club conversation and hospital experiments give the novel its distinctive movement between social observation and uncertain scientific discovery, offering readers fiction built around the puzzling limits of medical knowledge.