A curious novel, based on the true story of Mary Toft from Godalming in the eighteenth century. Mary gives birth to dead rabbits, or so it seems, thus intriguing the science and medical community as well as her local community. Unusual and original.

Based on the bizarre but true story of Mary Toft, Palmer's novel is a mesmerizing blend of historical fiction and human drama. Set in 1726 in the small English town of Godalming, the book centers on a young woman who stuns the medical and wider community by seemingly giving birth to dead rabbits. This inexplicable phenomenon challenges the rational beliefs of Surgeon John Howard and his apprentice Zachary, thrusting them into an unprecedented medical mystery.

The Story of Mary Toft is one of my favourite, most bonkers true stories I have ever heard. Palmer has taken the story, and added so much form and realism to it. I truly enjoyed it.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

All the joy of a historical fiction novel combined with an intriguing mystery that's inspired by actual events. Delightfully weird!

this book is a "Did not Finish" for me. I have attempted to read it but the writing feels like trudging through mud and nothing was making sense at all. I felt no connection to the story or to the characters and I do not want to continue with books that I am not enjoying. I fear this book is simply not for me.

I really enjoyed this book and can highly recommend it. For the full review go to https://joebloggshere.tumblr.com/post/670755693639467008/mary-toft-or-the-rabbit-queen-by-dexter-palmer-i

Captivating and gorgeous

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

Based on a true story, this is the tale of an impoverished woman in Georgian England who apparently gives birth to rabbits. I found the story to be too slow paced to keep my interest but liked the medical elements at a time when the profession was embryonic.

When in 1726, a patient of surgeon and man midwife John Howard begins to give birth to rabbits, he doesn't quite know how to react - is it something monstrous, or miraculous, and soon stories are flying about Mary Toft; the Rabbit Queen. But is Mary truly birthing kittens, or is something nefarious or horrific going on?

I liked the majority of this book and I actually enjoyed that despite the story being about this woman's strange birthing moments and her medical needs, the POVs we were getting were from John Howard and his young apprentice Zachary. The surgical/medical side of this book was a great one to be a part of from the types of practices they used for certain medical ailments, to the shortcomings and all they entailed. Not to mention the ignorance of all these men when it came to what a woman might do or go through when giving birth. One of the best characters in this book was John Howard's wife Alice who had the best things to say yet very little page time, but I loved her honest mouth and some of the shock moments she delivered.

The story did drop off in interest near the end, and it felt like a long time before it got around to the wrapping up part of the story. I did enjoy most of the author's conversations around how people treated things that were other and monstrous at the time from people born with deformities to people who were just a bit different. There are intersting and shocking conversations in this book as to how people believe Mary is giving birth to rabbits because she had a dalliance with a black man.

One of the things that truly spoiled this book was a horrific act of animal cruelty near the end of it. This act (which had nothing to do with rabbits fyi) was there to make a point about London and the darker side of people, but I really felt like it could have been done without pages and pages of description of what was happening to the animal. It soured me a bit for the very end of the book as then I just wanted the book to be finished, it was too far in to DNF it so i read the rest of it quickly and that was that.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group, and the author Dexter Palmer.
After being a little sceptical about the premise of this book, I enjoyed the first half as it was engaging, interesting, and with a well-developed cast of characters.
However, after a while the story dragged and I found myself looking forward to finishing it. The predictable ending didn't help here, and there seemed to be a lot of filler in the lead up to the conclusion.
Well written, but just a bit weird. 3 stars.

A fictional account of a true story, about Mary Toft, who supposedly gave birth to dissected pieces of rabbits on a regular basis. A true story, set in a time when medical science was just about to become more main stream and the world was less fanciful. Attended to by a team of surgeons, Mary continued to birth rabbits, until she was taken to London for closer scrutiny. The births stopped. The surgeons started to question the events and ultimately medical science prevails. The style of writing is quite quirky, and there are some very dark parts to it. Its not like anything else I've read.

Not my kind of thing although it seemed very well written, but I skipped most of it.
Not my kind of thing although it seemed very well written, but I skipped most of it.

An extremely well constructed retelling of the True Story of Mary Toft, The Rabbit Queen of Godalming.
Deftly built, through the eyes of an intelligent, religious, educated apprentice, with access to the minds and views of all the key protagonists, attempting to explain how events could have unfolded in such a way that King George himself became interested.
Brilliantly imagined, and thoroughly believable with a Dickensin range of characters.
Loved it!

I was hoping this was going to be about Mary Toft. Instead it was about privileged richer men having opinions. 🙄 Mary was an object, not a person, and all the men were annoying and obnoxious. The prose style didn't inspire me to read further despite my antipathy towards the men so a DNF at 65%.

This was a superbly researched retelling of a documented event. I enjoyed it immensely, the characters were extremely well drawn. I especially enjoyed the family drama of a juxtaposition of a vicar father and a Scientist mentor for apprentice Zachary and the pride and primo of the surgeons who come from London to investigate events !!! Darker in tone than the lighter beginning suggested but very enjoyable!

This has to be one of the weirdest books I have read in 2020, in fact it is almost certainly in the running for the oddest book I have read in nearly two decades of reading adult novels. Palmer clearly put a huge amount of effort in researching this grimly macabre retelling of a true historical tale. Sometimes fact is indeed stranger than fiction, and that certainly holds true for the story of Mary Toft, a woman who apparently gives birth to dead, gory segments of rabbits. It’s a fascinating and remarkably obscure premise, but it seemed to miss many of the elements that would make it a riveting read.

Told from the perspective of the village surgeon and his apprentice, who are called to Mary Toft’s bed for the strangest birth he has ever witnessed, there is a lot this book does well. I really enjoyed the characterisations of John Howard and his teenage apprentice, Zachary, who we see events from the perspective of. Their confusion and horror at delivering not a baby but parts of a dissected rabbit is clear and obvious. The descriptions of the ‘births’ are frankly horrific, yet whilst the subject matter is not for the faint of heart, the opening to the novel is well done. I particularly appreciated the sheer mental gymnastics the male surgeons had to do to make sense of the non-sensical and how Palmer merged medical knowledge with religious belief.

The problem is that there is not really enough of a tale to fill the pages, and it shows in some of the diversions and unnecessary scenes. I really didn’t get on with the random vignettes scattered throughout the novel; they seemed out of place and I had no interest in the random characters picked out of the crowd. There are also a handful of scenes depicting horrific animal abuse that frankly had no real place in the novel. They are apparently there only for the shock value, and therefore felt purposeless. Likewise, a lot of time is spent philosophising through the eyes of a teenage boy; and whilst I quite enjoyed some of these extracts, others seemed to be mere long winded filler rather than bringing anything of interest to the novel. This is a novel that looks closely at some of the common flaws of the human condition; greed, ambition, selfishness and our search for new and interesting depravities. I just wish it had spent more time on plot and less on the wordy asides. The ending in particular seemed rushed.

So, this is definitely unique. It’s quite unlike anything I have ever read before. It’s dark as hell and not for the faint hearted or squeamish. It’s a book I won’t forget quickly. But it’s also nowhere near as good as it could have been. The ending seemed rushed, with nowhere near enough attention dedicated to the fallout from events, and I can’t help but feel that a significant amount of the philosophical filler and unnecessary diversions. Oh, and the vignettes. It would make for a more streamlined experience that actually finishes in a satisfactory manner.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this book.

Mary Toft starts to give birth to rabbits in her home in Godalming home in 1726 much to the consternation and amazement of the local doctor and his assistant Zachary. Soon the King’s physician gets to hear of the events and Mary plus doctors all head to London. Based on a real events Descter Palmer uses the fallout to take a look at celebrity and notoriety.

Darkly engaging and highly uncomfortable, the author takes the basis of a true and bizarre tale and turns it into an even more bizarre novel. With science on the brink of transforming a world still riddled with superstition, it is impossible to not be captivated by this book.

I changed my mind so many times while I was reading this book! From the start I was absolutely hooked and couldn't put it down but around the middle of the story I found it started to drag slightly and reading it felt more like a chore than an enjoyable experience, but then by the end I was once again hooked! I know that this book was based on an actual historical event, but I feel that it could have quite easily been condensed down a little bit to keep it interesting for the reader.