Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen

What should be a fascinating story felt drawn out and sidestepped throughout the main bulk of the book. A good start and reasonable ending, but I had to skim read much of the mid-section just to get through. Shame.

Mary ToftA fantastical tale which, surprisingly, is based on a real-life event.Mary Toft of Godalming in Surrey appears to be giving birth to dead rabbits every few days.Local surgeon John Howard and his young apprentice, attend these bizarre births, and absolutely confounded by these ‘miracles’ they call on several eminent surgeons from London, including the King’s surgeons to come to Surrey and investigate.News of Mary Toft soon spreads and interest in her soon reaches an almost cult-like hysteria.Mary and her husband are moved to London for observation, but the births suddenly stop after constant vigilance over the patient.The move to London really stepped up this story for me. Descriptions of the strange underbelly of the city and the contrasting lives of the ‘well-to-do’ were brilliantly written, almost like an entirely different book.A fantastic and fantastical read. A fulsome five stars from me.

In the town of Godalming, Nicholas Fox’s Exhibition of Medical Curiosities rolls into town, when surgeon, John Howard goes to watch the exhibition, he has doubts over it’s authenticity and of each of the subjects in the exhibition.John finds himself soon believing in the strange again when Mary Toft gives birth in front of him to a dead and dismembered rabbit and John is drawn into trying to solve her case. But no one knows why it’s happening, not even the top surgeons. Everyone is baffled as to how a woman is giving birth to a dead rabbit and what the cause is.But soon, she starts giving birth to more than one rabbit.‘The Rabbit Queen’ is loosely based off the story of Mary Toft who tricked doctors into believing that she had given birth to rabbits in the 1800’s.This story is told through the eyes of Zachary, age 14, apprentice of John Howard who came to him after an abscess behind the tonsil causes a series of problems.‘The Rabbit Queen’ deals with many different themes including greed and what greed can do to one person.This is a brilliant, well-written read. If you like the weird and wonderful, this is one you should definitely check out.

I had no idea what to expect of this book but was intrigued to see how a story about a woman giving birth to a dead rabbit could be a good premise for a book. And boy was it an excellent book.It is a historical novel based off a true story set in 1726 in Godalming, England. It is beautifully descriptive, refreshingly different and like all good stories has interesting characters and a cleverly planned plot line pushing the story to a great denouement.It is more than a historical novel though and is full of humour and compassion, with a great message / moral running throughout the story - a message despite the setting hundreds of years ago, we would understand in the world we live in today. Altogether an excellent and different book that I would wholeheartedly recommend.Thank you to @littlebrownbookgroup_uk and Dexter Palmer for gifting me this book.4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"But I think - and I say this not to salve my own feelings, but because I have truly come to believe it - that something more complex goes on in the mind of those who we say are "fooled". That there is an additional self-deception, a self victimization. The dupe become both robber and robbed, both living in the same mind, the one constantly deceiving the other.Because something profound must happen in the mind to convince a man to distrust the common sense acquired over decades, not just once, but continuously."Before requesting this I've read quite a few articles/essays on the real case of Mary Toft. In fact it's why I've decided to risk reading this novel. I say 'risk reading it' because, depending on how the author deals with the historical information, it can be either an enjoyable read or quite a bore.Luckily Dexter Palmer does a brilliant job. Not only the novel is very enjoyable to read, but I thought he managed to enhance the historical events. The writing style is riveting - pulls you in the keeps you engaged throughout. It was as if I was reading a new story, something I knew nothing about. And in a way it is a new story. By developing the supporting secondary characters - the surgeons from the original tale, not only does he adds a new dimension to the historical events, but it allows him to deal with a string of elements as: human relationships, trust, fame, the darkness of human nature. But also look at the medical profession at the time, the bizarre as entertainment and so on.All in all a very good read that I highly recommend.