Mary Toft: or, the rabbit queen / Dexter Palmer.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781101871935 (hardcover : alk. paper)
- ISBN: 1101871938
- Physical Description: viii, 319 pages ; 25 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Pantheon Books, 2019.
- Copyright: ©2019
Content descriptions
General Note: | Novel based on a true story. |
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [315]-319). |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Toft, Mary, 1703-1763 > Fiction. Physicians > Fiction. Godalming (England) > History > 18th century > Fiction. Great Britain > History > George I, 1714-1727 > Fiction. |
Genre: | Historical fiction. Biographical fiction. |
- Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2019 October
In 1726, Mary Toft, from the rural English town of Godalming, suddenly begins giving birth to dismembered rabbits. Local surgeon John Howard is called to attend the births, bringing with him teenage apprentice Zachary. The rational Howard is confounded as these births continue and writes to the top medical minds in London for assistance. As the experts venture to Godalming, word gets out, creating a circuslike atmosphere in the town. Finally, Mary is taken to London at the request of King George. When the "births" cease following her arrival, Howard and the others must face the possibility that they've been taken in by a hoax. Told largely from Zachary's viewpoint, the book begins with Zachary and Howard's attendance at a semi-fraudulent traveling show, "The Exhibition of Medical Curiosities," with the suspension of disbelief required to accept the reality of these curiosities acting as a metaphor for the story of Mary Toft.
Copyright 2019 Library Journal.VERDICT Drawing on a true incident, Palmer (The Dream of Perpetual Motion) pits the age-old human desire to believe the miraculous against the emerging rationalism of the scientific community in Mary's time. In this yearning to believe what we'd like to be true over the facts, the novel perhaps offers some parallels to our own time. [See Prepub Alert, 5/13/19.]âLawrence Rungren, Andover, MA