Newes from the Dead

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Author(s)

Mary Hooper

Publisher

Square Fish

Genre(s)

Age Range

13+

Release Date

July 06, 2010

ISBN

0312608640

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WRONGED. HANGED. ALIVE? (AND TRUE!)

Anne can't move a muscle, can't open her eyes, can't scream. She lies immobile in the darkness, unsure if she's dead, terrified she's buried alive, haunted by her final memory—of being hanged. A maidservant falsely accused of infanticide in 1650 England and sent to the scaffold, Anne Green is trapped with her racing thoughts, her burning need to revisit the events—and the man—that led her to the gallows.

Meanwhile, a shy 18-year-old medical student attends his first dissection and notices something strange as the doctors prepare their tools . . . Did her eyelids just flutter? Could this corpse be alive?

Beautifully written, impossible to put down, and meticulously researched, "Newes from the Dead" is based on the true story of the real Anne Green, a servant who survived a hanging to awaken on the dissection table. "Newes from the Dead" concludes with scans of the original 1651 document that recounts this chilling medical phenomenon.

WRONGED. HANGED. ALIVE? (AND TRUE!)

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Newes from the Dead

March 26, 2013

Overall rating

4.3

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I think this is a perfect example of why Goodreads is so awesome, because I never would have found this book otherwise. The summary for Mary Hooper’s Newes from the Dead had me hooked, and I went out and bought it right away. A 17th century vivisection gone wrong (or right, actually), and based on a true story? This sounds like my dream book!

What I Liked: One of Hooper’s best ideas in writing this book was a dual narrative. One perspective, Anne Green’s, helps us with the backstory, and the other, medical student Robert's, gives us insight on what’s going on in the vivisection room. Normally I’m a single point of view type girl, but I don’t think this particular book could have been written in another way without being so effective.

Now, Robert is mostly just a point of view character, put into the plot for the purpose of showing the reader how the vivisection is progressing. But oh my gosh, he was so cute! He had a stammer, brought on after a childhood trauma, and he was super adorable in the way he interacted with everyone, and his internal thoughts were so interesting and well written. I loved him so, so much.

Any way you look at it, it’s hard to have a fully developed romance going on when one-half of the couple is (supposedly) dead. Yet Hooper managed to pull it off to great success, and the last scene was so sweet in it’s corny romanticness. I wanted to hug the book. Maybe I did…

I also really liked Hooper's writing. I think she managed to capture the essence of the 17th century while at the same time making it relevant for modern readers. Of course, I have no problem with old-timey language, but I think Hooper's stylistic decision paid off in the end, and was handled well.

What I Didn’t Like: The only problem I had with this book (and it’s so small I almost feel bad for pointing it out) was that I knew exactly how the book was going to turn out by page 25. So I definitely wasn’t shocked by the book in any way, but all things aside, it’s somewhat minor. Hooper presented her clichés in a way that made them seem un-cliché.

Might have something to do with the dead girl reanimating, because that's no too typical in YA.

Verdict: In spite of it’s predictableness, Newes from the Dead was a phenomenal book, and it's a really great example of why historical fiction is my favorite genre. I love how Hooper made me fall in love with a dead character, and I loved how that character ended up, alive and with a super nice guy. And I love Robert, our secondary character who I wasn't supposed to even pay attention to.

Even better, it’s all true!