The Resurrectionist

Allen (When the Wolfsbane Blooms) reimagines Frankenstein through a feminist lens in this macabre gothic horror novel set in 1889 London. When Dilly and her twin sister, Deirdre, were 10, Dilly’s curiosity about her physician father’s basement lab prompted an accident that resulted in Deirdre’s having a permanent limp. As such, the girls’ father forbids Dilly from pursuing a career in medicine, insisting it’s her duty to care for Deirdre, whose marriage and employment prospects are slim. After a carriage crash orphans the siblings at 17, Dilly resolves to pursue her dream of becoming the Royal Society’s first female surgeon. For funding, Dilly partners with roguish medical student and part-time gravedigger Ben to sell stolen corpses to the local college for study. Ben, a resurrectionist, believes that locating the “seat of the soul” is the key to cheating death, to which Dilly scoffs—until she finds her father’s promising research into resurrection and decides to continue his work. Dilly narrates, her determination and audacity driving Allen’s layered plot while conferring emotional complexity and societal context. Though the plot relies heavily on happenstance, it does little to diminish the impact of the gruesome, nerve-shredding conclusion. Main characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Weltz, Jean V. Nagger Literary. (Oct.)