Anatomy: A Love Story

By Dana Schwartz, pub date 1/18/2022

4*s, Best enjoyed when you want a story of star crossed lovers who make eyes over bodies (If you do, you’re my people).

Publisher’s synopsis (St. Martin’s Press):

“Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry.

Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die.

When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, Beecham will allow her to continue her medical career. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books—she’ll need corpses to study.

Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living.

But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets, and the dreaded Roman Fever, which wiped out thousands a few years ago, is back with a vengeance. Nobody important cares—until Hazel.

Now, Hazel and Jack must work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.” – Synopsis provided by St. Martin’s Press.

Review/My Synopsis

Anatomy: A Love Story was a delightful gothic murder mystery set amongst the cemeteries and city alleys of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the early nineteenth century. Hazel is a headstrong girl who wants more than anything to be a surgeon, but though her breeding and status open a lot of doors for her, they are still a golden handcuff tying her to the traditional roles of a Lady in British society. She is to marry her cousin Bernard. Though her cousin and her have long been friends in addition to their betrothed status, Bernard seems less and less keen to allow his future wife to do such scandalous things as surgery, despite knowing it is her driving passion. Note: Bernard seems like such a great guy until she actually starts pursuing that passion, then he admits he thinks it was just a flight of fancy for her which left me so bothered. In my opinion, he’s a bit of a wanker who deserves some syphilis. Anyways…

When she does get the opportunity to see a lecture and demonstration by Dr. Beecham, the grandson of the scientist who wrote the veritable anatomist’s bible, she jumps at the chance. But women aren’t allowed through the main doors of the establishment. That’s when she runs into Jack Currer, who is able to sneak her in under the bleachers. Of course Jack knows of this little hidey-hole. He’s a resurrection man. A body snatcher—but not a grave robber. He makes that quite clear. He steals nothing but the bodies (semantics if you ask me—and you kind of did).

When Beecham announces that he will be teaching the newest surgery courses, Hazel feels compelled to find a way to attend and get her license in the surgical arts. By dressing as her deceased brother, George, she is able to disguise herself as a lad long enough to attend these lectures (This is somewhat ironic. Here’s some background: George and Hazel both had the Roman Fever, a highly contagious decease that seems to have reemerged in Edinburgh. George, the heir to their family, died. Hazel did not. This caused obvious distress for her family and her mother and her relationship has been strained ever since. Not only that, but the death triggered two more things. Her younger brother, now being the heir, is basically a helipad to her mother’s helicopter parenting, while Hazel–who has become largely ignored by her mother–is hell bent on finding a cure. The reason I say ironic (maybe ‘poetic’ is a better term?) is that she is ‘resurrecting’ the very person who died and created this passion for surgery in her. Good job on that one, Schwartz.) 

However, when Hazel is caught posing as a lad, she is told she can no longer attend the lectures put on by Beecham or Straine—a practicing surgeon in Edinburgh who knows Hazel from  his associations with her uncle and future father in law. (Do you think that will stop Hazel? Of course not. She’s a girl of means, independence and fortitude.) Instead of giving up, Hazel tracks down Dr. Beecham and strikes a deal with him. She will study and he will allow her to sit for the surgeon’s exam. If she passes, the school will open its doors to other women. If she does not, she will turn away from surgery and into the arms of her betrothed to do as all the other Ladies of means do for the rest of her life. What’s a girl to do? (Are you kidding? She has all of woman kind to think about now—she is the potential harbinger of change. Of course she takes the deal!)

But there’s one problem. She will need to study human corpses. Fortunately, she has a connection: handsome and charming Jack Currer, who lives and works in a recently closed theatre, only closed due to the new spread of Roman Fever. The downside is his partner has recently gone missing. Hazel must team up with Jack to not only keep her secrets, but also to help him procure bodies. During her ‘adventures’ with Jack, she finds out that there are people suddenly showing up without body parts in the poor hospitals of London, and some of the bodies they are pulling out of the ground that are marked as deaths due to Roman Fever are decidedly not. 

Not only does Hazel need to study for the most important exam of her life, but she and Jack are now embroiled in what appears to be a murder investigation where they seem to be the sole investigators. And the conclusion that they come to is something that neither they—nor the reader—will ever expect. 

Thoughts:

I really loved the setting. I’ve always wanted to go to Edinburgh and if it’s even half as atmospheric as the author describes, it would be worth every penny. I also adored Hazel. She had a goal and she did everything to pursue that goal while trying so hard not to fall in love with Jack over dead bodies. I’m sure there’s a joke in there, I just can’t sus it out right this second. The villain at the end was truly diabolical and I never expected it. Them, yes. But the why? Never. There were so many suspects and possibilities and the conclusion…just…(insert mind blown emoji here). 

If you’re looking for a gothic fiction book, this is the one that you need to pick up. There’s honestly no better description than that. It’s a gothic love story. Classically done. I’m surprised that fog doesn’t roll out of the pages when you open in, almost equally surprising is that ending. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the advance copy in exchange for this honest review.