Anatomy: A Love Story - Sana Schwartz
Hardcover | Wednesday Books | January 18, 2022
The Gist
A girl is left home alone for a few months in a castle and uses that time to become a badass surgeon, fall in love with a resurrection man, and unmask a mystery ripper who’s stealing organs and limbs from the living and the dead.
Read If You Like
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
Stalking Jack the Ripper
The Artful Dodger
Gothic mysteries
Verdict: Solid Read But Borrow It (Unless you’re obsessed with the Victorian era like I am)
After spending most of her life studying her father’s medical books, Hazel is determined to turn her passion for medicine into a career and use her skills to help people. When her mother leaves her behind at their family estate for the summer, Hazel takes advantage of the solitude to disguise herself as a boy and enroll in world-renowned surgeon Dr. Breechman’s class. When her true identity is discovered, she makes a deal with Breechman that if she can pass the exam at the end of the term, he’ll support her medical career. To continue her studies, Hazel enlists the help of a resurrection man named Jack and turns her family home into a makeshift hospital. But as Hazel sees more patients and corpses, she begins to think the trail of missing limbs, organs, and people are all connected. The narrative bounces between Hazel and Jack and at times it’s jarring to figure out whose point of view is whose. But the real allure of Anatomy is how Schwartz confidently builds the world of 19th-century Edinburgh and depicts the art of medicine. She’s done her homework and when Hazel has a scalpel in her hand, this is where the novel shines.
