Anatomy: A Love Story

 Tell me a story...about a woman ahead of her time 

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

Publication date: January 18, 2022

Date read: March 13, 2022

Set in a slightly alternate version of Edinburgh in 1817. Hazel Sinnett has always wanted to be a surgeon - but as a woman, it’s all but impossible. She is supposed to marry well and not get her hands dirty, especially not in such a gruesome profession. After she gets kicked out of surgical lectures for being the wrong gender, she becomes determined to pass the physicians exam all on her own. Meanwhile, resurrection man, Jack Currer, is trying to make enough money to survive, buy digging up bodies and selling them to the medical schools. But he’s got troubles of his own. In addition to the new outbreak of Roman fever, and the general problems of being caught digging up graves, Jack learns that the poor seem to be be disappearing. What’s going on in Edinburg? And can Hazel and Jack figure it out in time to stop it?

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Mhairi Morrison and Tim Campbell. 

I first want to say that this is one of the most beautiful covers I’ve seen in years. Props to the people who created the cover art.

I enjoyed this one. Hazel is a great character. A little naïve about what can be accomplished, because she has money and is used to things just getting done, but she also works really hard for what she wants. Her belief that she can accomplish the impossible is actually endearing in this case. She’s tough as nails, but also seems to fit in with the times and not feeling too idealized. 

I did like Jack, but I felt that Hazel and Jack’s relationship fell a little too close to the YA insta-love trope. This aspect, plus the age of the characters (Hazel is supposed to be seventeen or eighteen), are really the only reasons this book is classified as YA. 

As mentioned at the top, this book is set in a slightly fictionalized version of early 19th century Scotland. It reminded me a little of the Pendergast books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, which are police procedurals, but which often have a somewhat fantasy twist to the mystery. I wasn’t expecting this when I first started, but I didn’t mind it. 

Overall, this was a fun read. Great characters, interesting science, and a creepy mystery all rolled into one. I’d recommend for any fans of historical mysteries, as long as you can handle a little bit of medical gore. The author also said she may write a sequel, which has me intrigued. 

Rating: 4/5 stars

Trigger warning: death of a sibling, desecration of corpses, blood, surgical procedures, autopsies, misogyny, kidnapping, forced medical procedures, hanging

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.