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Our Hideous Progeny: A Novel

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The reason I’m not giving this a full 5 stars, is the far-fetched display of Mary’s connection with her scientific creation. It seemed rushed and over-the-top, and while I do think that animals are capable of immense love and affection, I didn’t entirely buy Mary’s attachment to what she had put together and what they meant to each other. This book is filled with science - which may sound boring, at first mention, but proves itself to be anything but. Long words and terms may sometimes go over my head, but the passion and intelligence of Mary, a woman who yearns for far more than she is able to have as a woman in Victorian society, is infectious. Since she was a child, she found herself fascinated with geology, paleontology and fossils. Professors and scholars and scientific societies are abound in this tale, with the discovery and vast interest in dinosaurs at the centre of it all. So. This is supposed to be a queer feminist retelling of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". We follow Victor Frankenstein's great-niece, Mary, in 1853 London. Mary and her husband are struggling financially and professionally. But Mary believes that she has found something about her great-uncle's disappearance that can help them change the world of science. The parallels that Hall draws with “Frankenstein” sometimes feel too direct, as when the narrator imagines a miscarried fetus as her own “creature of imperfect animation.” But her ultimate insight is resonant: “We are all monsters, stitched together loosely, composed of remnants from other lives, pieces that often don’t seem as though they could plausibly belong to us.” McGill, similarly, urges the contemporary reader to reclaim the idea of monstrousness as something empowering, especially for “women who love women, women who didn’t know they were women at first but know better now, those who thought they were women at first but know better now. We shall be monsters, you and I.”

When Mary - a scientist struggling to make her mark in 1850s London - discovers journals belonging to her great-uncle, Victor Frankenstein, she embarks on what might be the greatest adventure of all....I’m going to need every to drop what they’re doing and add this to their TBR right now. This was absolutely everything I was hoping for and more. There are villains in this story, but no heroes; heroines instead take their place, in the form of Mary, and her poorly, gentle sister-in-law Maisie. This book takes a look at the society and politics of the time; of the disparities between class, gender and race, and refuses to make apologies for the way things once were; instead giving us characters who question and rebel at the time, though who understand the limits of such action. Plot: As someone who really wanted to like Frankenstein but just couldn’t get into the writing style, I appreciated the way the plot both took inspiration from the source material while adding a commentary all its own! Having the central story revolve around the great niece* of Frankenstein was so interesting, and a huge strength of this book.

The author of Our Hideous Progeny, C.E. McGill, is only 23 years old. To be a published author at such a young age is quite an accomplishment. But even more impressive is that they have written a debut that is far better than many seasoned writers’ second, third, or fourth novels. The novel deftly captures the essence of the original "Frankenstein," while delving into a far more rich exploration of themes such as the ethical boundaries of scientific pursuit, the intricate complexities of familial ties, the exploitation and brutality of nature, and the societal challenges faced by women in the Victorian era. Through Mary's character, McGill offers a potent depiction of a woman ahead of her time, fiercely determined to challenge the limitations imposed by societal norms and gender roles, even as she grapples with personal struggles and the weight of the loss of her child. She knew she had a great-uncle who had been a scientist, went mad, and died in the arctic, but knew little else about him. When she uncovers the notebook kept by that great-uncle, Victor Frankenstein, she proposes to Henry that they build on his work. The ending itself was fitting, although bitter-sweet. The tale concluded with a sour taste in my mouth, but I realized it couldn’t have ended any other way. Mary’s new friendship gave me hope, and especially since she had to fight so hard over it (not just the outside world, but also her inner insecurities after a past so traumatic and saddening) there was nobody more deserving of that friendship than Mary herself. I call this “friendship”, but who has read the book, knows there is much more than that; and I salute McGill for narrating this so delicately and beautifully. Some of the novel’s earliest readers reacted violently to its implicit atheism: one called it “the foulest Toadstool that has yet sprung up from the reeking dunghill of the present times.” But, as others have pointed out, Frankenstein’s intention is not to compete with the divine but to be useful to humanity: he hopes to ultimately eliminate diseases such as those which killed Shelley’s mother and children. And he creates only a single being. “If this is a blasphemous crime, then all parents stand condemned for it too,” one “Frankenstein” scholar has written.Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the Arctic, but she doesn’t know why or how. . . . Darkly brilliant and sumptuously gothic, this atmospheric debut left me reeling C.J. COOKE, author of THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES

Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the Arctic but she doesn't know why or how... Besides previous scientific discoveries and paradigms, the story was also centred around the position of women in science, featuring Mary in an almost activist-y role. It was aggravating to see how her knowledge and intelligence was constantly undermined, ridiculed and shoved aside, and how her position became more and more vulnerable each day. It was maddening to see how men were favoured in high societies, just for gender reasons, and although I myself have not experienced this first-hand, I felt the rage in Mary’s narration, and it has been long since I lived through a fictional character so vicariously.With what we see of Mary’s childhood and isolated upbringing with her grandmother (a woman who seemed to despise Mary simply for existing) I couldn’t help but be endeared to her (and root for her to succeed.) Witty, dark and sharp as a scalpel, it's a dazzling exploration of the macabre ambitions of Victorian science and a moving meditation on grief. C.E. McGill brilliantly captures what it's like to be a woman in a man's world. LIZZIE POOK, author of MOONLIGHT AND THE PEARLER'S DAUGHTER Like Eekhout, McGill is concerned with questions about what is natural or normal and what is not—and the conservatism and arbitrariness with which such distinctions are made. The novel’s protagonist is motivated by her sense of herself as an unnatural creature. Her world has no language for a female scientist: as McGill points out in a postscript, the term at the time was “man of science.” And her interest in fossils is linked from the start to her passionate attachment to another girl her own age who identifies an ammonite that the narrator finds on the beach. Like Mary and Isabella, in Eekhout’s novel, they pore over a book filled with illustrations of monsters, but this one is a paleontology text called “Book of the Great Sea-Dragons.” Perhaps this is a nod to Woolf: her Chloe and Olivia are scientists who share a laboratory. McGill's prose is rich and atmospheric, perfectly capturing the eerie and foreboding tone of the Gothic tradition. The characters are complex and layered . . . Our Hideous Progeny is a masterful work of Gothic horror that will leave readers on the edge of their seat. GLAMOUR

Witty, dark and sharp as a scalpel...brilliantly captures what it's like to be a woman in a man's world' LIZZIE POOK, author of MOONLIGHT AND THE PEARLER'S DAUGHTER Our Hideous Progeny has so much going on that it's hard to know where to start a review. We follow Mary, an aspiring palaeontologist living in London in 1853. She's quietly bisexual, married to a geologist she isn't quite sure she loves or respects any more, mourning a stillborn daughter, processing the effects of a traumatic childhood, looking for a way to make her mark on the world. I was in absolute awe of just how immersive the descriptions were and loved that it really delves into the inequalities of the Victorian era and the classist, sexist and racist attitudes which were prevalent and still very much relevant today. The idea that “Frankenstein” could have been inspired by the work of an actual mad scientist may seem to diminish the genius of Shelley’s imagination. But Eekhout suggests throughout the novel that the beast, which Mary continues to see, could be the offspring of her own fantasies. The monster—if that is what it is—appears only at moments of sexual tension between Mary and Isabella. That first glimpse takes place after the girls have decided to remove their corsets and expose their skin to the air. Mary sees it again after an intensely erotic episode (which she may or may not have imagined) while she and Isabella are swimming nude in a lake, and again as she stands outside the window of their bedroom after a similar encounter, or a dream of one. “Our monster was here,” Mary says—a phrase that could refer to either the physical creature or the frightening power of their sexuality.In two aspects, though, I wished for a bit more from the novel: pacing and the creature. The tempo of the story is sometimes too slow, too steady, and I never understood the true nature of the creature. Is it dangerous? Gentle? A threat to society? Aside from a few glimpses of its behavior here and there, the creature itself is only a secondary character in the story when it should’ve played a larger role, it being the Frankenstein monster. A wonderful book; dark, passionate, multi-layered and rich with enticing detail. JOANNE HARRIS, author of CHOCOLAT and THE STRAWBERRY THIEF The difference between a proper young lady and a beastly little thing was that ladies were never angry; they took their moods and wove them into lace, stuffed them into pillows. They learned to hold their tongue. But I have always been a beastly little thing at heart, it seems." For fans of queer fiction, imaginative historical fiction, admirers of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (of course!), and readers fascinated by dinosaurs and paleontology. BOOKLIST An immersive blend of historical and science fiction brims with surprises and dark delights. . . . An incisive exploration of women’s rights within the field of science. . . . Readers will revel in Mary’s personal and scientific discoveries and root for her to succeed in an unfair world.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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