Newes from the Dead
by Mary Hooper
This excellent and cleverly crafted historical novel, by the author of At the House of the Magician, among others, is based on the true story of Anne Green, who was hanged for infanticide in 1650, and then, miraculously, it seemed, returned to life even as she lay on the surgeons' dissecting table.
Anne is a na•ve young maidservant at the Great House in Dun's Tew, owned by Sir Thomas Reed. Here, taken in by false promises of marriage, she is seduced by his feckless teenage grandson. In due course Anne discovers she is pregnant. Rejected by her lover, she gives birth early to a still-born baby, which she hides in the privy. But her tragic secret is discovered, and she is accused of being a liar and murderess by the deeply unpleasant Sir Thomas. Anne is imprisoned, tried and hanged. Her body is claimed by the surgeons of the Oxford College of Physicians for dissection before an audience of young medical scholars, among them Christopher Wren and one Robert Matthews.
Anne's own narration of her story is interspersed with sections in the third person, as the surgeons prepare to dissect her body, a device that cranks the tension up to a fine pitch. These sections, seen from Robert's viewpoint, also have a satisfying emotional resonance Ð Robert, as a little boy, was traumatised by the sight of his dead mother in a coffin. For him, it is profoundly important that on this occasion death is defeated.
Although Anne does survive (and an end note gives possible explanations), we leave her surrounded by her rather less na•ve family, her father already rattling a money box as curious strangers crowd upstairs to goggle at his miracle daughter.
Anne's first person voice is a convincing take on seventeenth century style, but is modern and accessible enough for the young reader. The descriptions of the appalling conditions in Oxford prison and the hanging itself in bitter winter weather are extraordinarily vivid and unforgettable. This novel has a particular and lingering flavour, always the sign of exceptional writing.