Scientific progress has historically increased anxiety in society about man's relationship with nature. In vitro fertilisation, cloning and regenerative stem-cell-based therapies have raised fears about transgressive raids on the boundaries which secure human identity. This thesis seeks to explore the power of realist fiction to respond to both the process and ethics of scientific endeavour in a contemporary setting. Breath on Glass, a novel, follows the lives of two young researchers and their family relationships, both inside and outside of the laboratory, exploring the ways in which scientific tensions might give rise to personal ones. In parallel, it considers the ways in which the need for the advanced technology of fertility treatment impacts on their non-scientific relative. In the accompanying essay, the requirement for, and the use of literature to act as a conciliator between science and humanity is discussed and the narrative of science and the narratives of the individual scientists are compared.