Mary Toft; or, the rabbit queen : a novel / Dexter Palmer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Palmer, Dexter Clarence, 1974- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Toft, Mary, 1703-1763.

Hoaxes.

History.

England--Fiction.

England.

Great Britain--History--George I, 1714-1727--Fiction.

Great Britain.

Toft, Mary, 1703-1763--Fiction.

Toft, Mary.

Hoaxes--Fiction.

Surgeons--Fiction.

Surgeons.

Genre:

Novels.

Science fiction.

Fiction.

Physical Description:

viii, 319 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Pantheon Books, [2019]

Summary:

From the highly acclaimed author of Version Control: a stunning, powerfully evocative new novel based on a true story--in 1726 in the small town of Godalming, England, a young woman confounds the medical community by giving birth to dead rabbits. Surgeon John Howard is a rational man. His apprentice Zachary knows John is reluctant to believe anything that purports to exist outside the realm of logic. But even John cannot explain how or why Mary Toft, the wife of a local farmer, manages to give birth to a dead rabbit. When this singular event becomes a regular occurrence, John realizes that nothing in his experience as a village physician has prepared him to deal with a situation as disturbing as this. He writes to several preeminent surgeons in London, three of whom quickly arrive in the small town of Godalming ready to observe and opine. When Mary's plight reaches the attention of King George, Mary and her doctors are summoned to London, where Zachary experiences for the first time a world apart from his small-town existence, and is exposed to some of the darkest corners of the human soul. All the while, Mary lies in bed, waiting for another birth, as doubts begin to blossom among the surgeons and a growing group of onlookers grow impatient for another miracle...

Contents:

Part 1

Chapter I The Exhibition of Medical Curiosities p. 5

Chapter II The Royal Touch p. 27

Chapter III A Concerned Husband p. 35

Chapter IV A Birth p. 43

Chapter V Aristotle's Masterpiece p. 53

Chapter VI Mary's Dream p. 66

Chapter VII Foolscap p. 72

Part 2

Chapter VIII Nathanael St. André p. 79

Chapter IX Confirmation of the Preternatural p. 91

Chapter X The Seat of Imagination p. 97

Chapter XI Some Unanticipated Visitors p. 107

Chapter XII The Shearing Effect p. 116

Chapter XIII The King and the Three Impostors p. 125

Chapter XIV A Strange Celebration p. 139

Part 3

Chapter XV Mary's Soliloquy p. 155

Chapter XVI Moll Flanders p. 160

Chapter XVII Dr. Lacey's Bagnio p. 168

Chapter XVIII A Coffee House Meeting p. 180

Chapter XIX The Keepers of the Vigil p. 187

Chapter XX Sects p. 196

Chapter XXI The Proof p. 205

Chapter XXII A Principle of English Law p. 209

Chapter XXIII Leaving the Barn p. 240

Part 4

Chapter XXIV Hasenpfeffer p. 249

Chapter XXV Manningham's Plan p. 258

Chapter XXVI Transverse Presentation p. 264

Chapter XXVII Morning p. 273

Chapter XXVIII Pamphlets p. 277

Part 5

Chapter XXIX Zachary and Anne p. 287

Chapter XXX John Howard Returns p. 293

Chapter XXXI Bridewell Prison p. 300.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781101871935

1101871938

OCLC:

1091277911