Mary Toft; or, the Rabbit Queen

September 9, 2019
In this follow-up to Version Control, Palmer brilliantly fictionalizes the true story of Mary Toft, who in 1726 perplexed England when she gave birth to dead rabbits. John Howard, the only surgeon in the small town of Godalming, and his 14-year-old apprentice, Zachary Walsh, find their relatively quaint medical consults disrupted by a call from farmer Joshua Toft, who says his wife, Mary, is ready to give birth, despite having had a miscarriage fewer than six months earlier. John and Zachary are further surprised when Mary gives birth to a dead rabbit—and then another, and then another. Soon, word spreads and surgeons are sent from London to study the case. As Mary continues to give birth to a rabbit every few days, she’s brought to London for additional inspection, accompanied by John and Zachary, where the answer to the mystery finally comes to light. Palmer evocatively captures the period, from the sleepy matters of Godalming to the noise and danger of London (a violent show in a back alley is particularly memorable). But more impressive are the novel’s inquiries into the human concerns of wonder, denial, and belief. “And so I am becoming, not myself, but a mixture of the dreams of others,” Mary thinks. Palmer skillfully and rewardingly delves into the humanity at the heart of this true historical oddity.

September 15, 2019
Truth is in the eye of the beholder as 18th-century British people try to decide whether a series of freakish births represent a miracle or a fraud. The third novel by Palmer (Version Control, 2016, etc.) is as different from its predecessors as those two were from each other. Historical fiction, it is based on a real-life hoax perpetuated by Mary Toft, a farmer's wife living in the small English town of Godalming whose claims to be giving birth to rabbits fooled the doctors attending her. It isn't the hoax itself that interests the novelist--the machinations and motivations--but the responses of those she fooled: first her doctors; then the residents of Godalming, where the gossip spreads; and finally greater London, where the patient and her physicians are summoned to the court of King George. The primary perspective throughout the novel is that of 14-year-old Zachary Walsh, son of Godalming's preacher and apprentice to the local doctor. He wrestles with the central duality of the novel, between the faith of his father and the scientific reasoning of what was then modern medicine. There will be other dualities--men and women, city and country--as the novel mediates among different versions of reality, ones that cannot be reconciled, through the eyes of an innocent young man who lacks experience in the ways of the world but quickly finds himself challenged by a rash of experiences. "Come to London," invites a young woman with whom he falls in love, as love also becomes a question of faith or delusion. "Perhaps there are still other versions of myself I have to show you; versions of yourself you haven't seen." At the center of the novel, Mary herself is given little space to express herself, limited to two short chapters ("Mary's Dream," "Mary's Soliloquy"), otherwise functioning as a receptacle from which doctors pull rabbits, or pieces of rabbit. Ultimately, this is a novel that attempts to illuminate "the slippery nature of truth," when everything from God to reality is up for grabs. Deft, droll, and provocatively philosophical, a novel about how much we don't know about what we think we know.

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October 1, 2019

In 1726, Mary Toft, from the rural English town of Godalming, suddenly begins giving birth to dismembered rabbits. Local surgeon John Howard is called to attend the births, bringing with him teenage apprentice Zachary. The rational Howard is confounded as these births continue and writes to the top medical minds in London for assistance. As the experts venture to Godalming, word gets out, creating a circuslike atmosphere in the town. Finally, Mary is taken to London at the request of King George. When the "births" cease following her arrival, Howard and the others must face the possibility that they've been taken in by a hoax. Told largely from Zachary's viewpoint, the book begins with Zachary and Howard's attendance at a semi-fraudulent traveling show, "The Exhibition of Medical Curiosities," with the suspension of disbelief required to accept the reality of these curiosities acting as a metaphor for the story of Mary Toft. VERDICT Drawing on a true incident, Palmer (The Dream of Perpetual Motion) pits the age-old human desire to believe the miraculous against the emerging rationalism of the scientific community in Mary's time. In this yearning to believe what we'd like to be true over the facts, the novel perhaps offers some parallels to our own time. [See Prepub Alert, 5/13/19.]--Lawrence Rungren, Andover, MA

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2019
After exploring the near future in Version Control (2016), Palmer turns in a brilliant work of historical fiction set in Godalming, England, in 1726. Zachary Walsh is a surgeon's apprentice being mentored by the logical, John Locke-inspired John Howard. When one of Godalming's residents, Mary Toft, begins to give birth to dead rabbits, John's rational mind cannot grasp what he is witnessing. As illustrious London surgeons flock to the usually quiet Godalming, confident they can explain this freakish occurence, the town's gossip-merchants develop elaborate tales about this seeming miracle. When the King begins to take an interest?and doubts begin to grow?Mary is taken to London. There, through Zachary's innocent eyes, Palmer evocatively depicts the dramatic changes witnessed during this period in race relations, industrialization, and the birth of the modern novel. Moreover, like the historical fiction of Hillary Mantel or Caryl Phillips, Palmer does not shy away from the depravity of the past, particularly the violent desires of London's elite. Expertly utilizing an actual bizarre historical event to explore faith, reason, and the foundations of our current economic system, this exhaustively researched and dexterously constructed novel is another triumph to add to Palmer's incredibly diverse corpus of works.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)