Elixir

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

Twelve-year-old Ruth is spending the summer of 1921 at the University of
Toronto, where her mother, war widow of Professor John Williams, is a
cleaning lady in the medical research building. The tedium of the long,
hot, boring days is relieved to some extent when Ruth is befriended by
Dr. Frederick Banting and his assistant, Mr. Charles Best, who are in
the midst of their quest to find a cure for diabetes.

Ruth is also befriended by Melissa, a young, vivacious, and articulate
member of the Anti-Vivisection Society, a group violently opposed to Dr.
Banting’s use of animals in his research. Preying on Ruth’s sympathy
for the laboratory dogs, Melissa tries to enlist her help in freeing
them.

Within this fictional framework, Eric Walters skilfully weaves the
actual story of the discovery of insulin. Other issues—such as early
20th-century attitudes toward working women, the power of words to
manipulate, and the controversy over whether or not the use of animals
for research is justified—are interjected.

The characters are realistically and, according to the foreword by Dr.
Banting’s grandnephew, accurately portrayed. Ruth’s mother is “a
lady” who, because of her straitened circumstances, is forced to find
work, a most unladylike turn of events. Now merely a cleaning lady, she
nonetheless speaks and acts with dignity. Melissa, enthusiastic and
totally convinced of the rightness of her cause, is willing to go to any
lengths to achieve success. We empathize with Ruth, shy, lonely, and
confused. We are struck by Fred Banting’s love of children, his
humility, and his sense of fairness, exemplified by his refusal to
accept the Nobel Prize without acknowledging and sharing his reward with
his partner, Charles Best.

Though most young readers today have heard of diabetes, few will be
familiar with its symptoms and realize that prior to 1921 it was always
fatal. This exceptional book will bring the story of insulin’s
discovery and discoverers to life. Highly recommended.