In this gothic, twisty debut historical novel, a young medical student is lured into the underworld of body snatching in 19th-century Edinburgh … and unexpectedly falls in love.
1828. James Willoughby arrives in Edinburgh with empty pockets a dream of studying surgery. Desperate to scrape together fees for the city’s leading anatomy school, he strikes a deal with Nye MacKinnon, a dashing young dissectionist who shows James a way into this elite academic realm … via the cemetery.
James descends with Nye into the underground ranks of the Resurrectionists – men infamous for stealing fresh corpses and selling them to professors as anatomical specimens. Before he knows it, they are caught up in a life-or-death scheme as rival gangs of snatchers compete in a morbid race for power and prestige. And as James and Nye lock eyes across graves and dissection tables, they soon realise that they yearn to be more than partners in academic crime …
The Resurrectionist is a thrilling tale of queer love, murder, and the grisly origins of modern medicine.
The Resurrectionist by A.Rae Dunlap
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9780008711535
Imprint: HarperNorth
‘Dunlap evocatively creates a picture of 19th-century Edinburgh … with breathtaking pacing and rich descriptions. Each character is vivid and leaps off the page with vibrant personality. Dunlap has written a page-turner of an adventure … Medical school has never been as entertaining as it is in this book’ New York Journal of Books
'Playing with a captivating point in history, A. Rae Dunlap weaves a story of queer love, coming of age, and macabre science against the richly-drawn atmosphere of a historic and beloved city' Marielle Thompson
'The Resurrectionist is a wryly humorous cat-and-mouse thriller … as twisting as Edinburgh’s cobblestone streets. It’s an enthralling debut from a writer to watch' Patrice McDonough