*Many thanks to Dexter palmer, Little, Brown Book Group UK, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
This was one of those books which surprise and provoke at the same time. The case of Mary Toft was unknown to me before reading this book. I truly admire the author for the research he did into the 18th century and for writing a story that was mind-blowing to me. At time it was a difficult read and most uncomfortable, but it was definitely worth my reading time.

Having never heard of mary toft it was the cover of the book that caught my eye, then having read the blurb i thought urmmm this could be interesting. Nd to some it may well be but for me it was just a bit too weird. Nd having read it i cant say whether i enjoyed it or not but i can certainly say its still got me puzzled. So im still a bit unsure of how i feel about this book in all honesty.

Before requesting this I've read quite a few articles/essays on the real case of Mary Toft. In fact it's why I've decided to risk reading this novel. I say 'risk reading it' because, depending on how the author deals with the historical information, it can be either an enjoyable read or quite a bore.
Luckily Dexter Palmer does a brilliant job. Not only the novel is very enjoyable to read, but I thought he managed to enhance the historical events. The writing style is riveting - pulls you in the keeps you engaged throughout. It was as if I was reading a new story, something I knew nothing about. And in a way it is a new story. By developing the supporting secondary characters - the surgeons from the original tale, not only does he adds a new dimension to the historical events, but it allows him to deal with a string of elements as: human relationships, trust, fame, the darkness of human nature. But also look at the medical profession at the time, the bizarre as entertainment and so on.

All in all a very good read that I highly recommend.

Dark and entertaining, this historical fiction is a warning not to believe everything we see. I appreciated the change of points of view, and the colourful characters. The atmosphere of this period is well-described and the fight between science and religion is still raging today.

Drawn into a world where spectacle is entertainment and superstition, where even childbirth is cloaked in folklore, readers are quickly amongst 18th century rural lifestyles with its customs, beliefs and ritual. Mary Toft, the wife of a local farmer, gives birth to a dead rabbit and then this event becomes a regular occurrence. This story takes a hugely open mind, a reader already exposed to the notions of lore and other worldly ness. You will not regret it.

Highly recommend!

It was the beautiful cover that drew me towards this book but the true story of Mary Toft was enough to make me want to read it. It is 1726 in Godalming in Surrey fourteen year old Zachary Walsh has become the apprentice of John Howard, the town's doctor. They are called to the house of the Tofts. Mary is in labour. What she produces horrifies both John & Zachary- instead of a baby she is delivered of parts of a rabbit! As the days go on she is producing these 'babies' every couple of days. Zachary's father, the local minister wonders if this was a miracle. John is intrigued & gets in touch with some of the most famous physicians of his day. Before long even the King wants to know what is behind this event. In a world where wandering shows of people with deformities & disabilities is entertainment for the masses Mary Toft becomes the story of the moment.

This was a very well researched telling of a true story. The characters were very engaging. I really liked the Howards & Zachary!Sometimes telling of historical events can feel too alien to a modern reader but for a while I lived in this age where the quest for the outrageous ensnared the unwary. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this unusual read.

The premise of this book was really intriguing however when it came to the narrative I found it too slow in pace and not interesting enough to keep me hooked.

Mary Toft: or, The Rabbit Queen has a fascinating premise, rooted in actual historical events. Farmwife, Mary, begins giving birth to rabbit pieces every few days to the consternation of her doctor and vicar alike. Could this be a miracle? Or a monstrosity? How can it even be possible for the human body to produce such aberrant (or abhorrent) offspring?

The story displays the depth of research that the author has performed, as the reader is plunged into both country village and then bustling capital city of England in the 1700s and can practically smell the religion, superstition, and poor sanitation arrangements.

There does need to be a HUGE trigger warning for animal cruelty. Aside from the grisly rabbit babies, which are dead on arrival, and therefore not too traumatic (for the reader… they certainly traumatise the characters!), there is a scene of elite entertainment partway through the novel that is so vile that I felt physically sick on reading it and had to step away for a few minutes before returning to the pit of depravity. That said, it is only a short scene, and the main character – apprentice doctor, Zachary – is as repulsed and appalled as his readers.

Other than these brief grisly interludes, the main focus of the novel is on the human appetite for witnessing the grotesque: diseases, injuries, deformities and the idle perversions of the bored and wealthy; Dexter Palmer plumbs the depths of this desire for dark entertainments, contrasting it with the religious, scientific, spiritual and philosophical beliefs of his educated and (mostly) moral main characters – Zachary, his clergyman father, and his doctor mentor.

Unfortunately, the moralising and philosophising causes the story to drag a little slowly, especially as the doctor’s wife, Mary, offers a midway soliloquy that alerts the reader to the most likely explanation of events, thus removing any element of suspense for anyone unfamiliar with the real-life story this was based on. The second half of the novel especially – the events set in London – meanders along sedately with little-to-no action or excitement. We sit waiting around Mary’s bed along with the characters, and ponder what on earth we are all doing there.

Anyone looking for a detailed historical account of the prevalent beliefs and medical practices of the period will find plenty of interest in this fictionalised account, but if you’re looking for a plot or character-driven story about a woman who gives birth to bunnies, then you might find this one a little slow-going.



“For the meager price price of sixpence, gaze upon the horrific consequences that occur when the Lord God stretches out his mighty finger and lays a curse on Man. Educational for the mind; edifying for the soul.” The windows of the coaches had their thick black curtains pulled, proof against stray glimpses of their passengers. Education and edification would not come for free.

Zachary Walsh, at age fourteen the proud apprentice of Mr. John Howard, Godalming’s finest (and only) surgeon, stood before the window of his loft in the Howards’ home and watched the procession roll by on the street beneath him, imagining what grotesque secrets and horrors might stuff the carriages. Was it not his duty as an initiate into the surgeons craft to be medically curious? It was.

– Dexter Palmer, Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

A peculiar, intriguing and highly enjoyable story. I was hooked till the last page and I loved the storytelling and the character development.
The historical background is vivid and well researched, the plot flows and the characters are well thought.
It's the first book i read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Well written (1 star) and well researched (2nd star) but totally not my type of book. I found it too weird, disturbing, and disgusting. From distasteful prejudices of grotesque sights on display to utterly abhorrent scenes in London. Proceed with caution. Deprave and cruel scenes abound.
I can see many people will appreciate this book but not me. I hated it!

Thanks to NetGalley

My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group for a review copy via NetGalley of ‘Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen’ by Dexter Palmer.

I am a lover of historical fiction and this novel, based on a true incident that took place in Godalming, Surrey in 1726, seemed a good fit.

However, at 77% I quit reading as frankly I felt sickened by a key scene in London that involved extreme cruelty to animals. Even earlier than that there were some disturbing elements though I had carried on reading. While I could have skimmed the final chapters I felt that I just needed to walk away.

Palmer has clearly done his research and follows the main text with a bibliography and notes on his use of various sources as well as areas of the story where he has exercised artistic license.

I also felt that for the most part he succeeded in not only capturing the period vividly but also its formal writing style, which while interesting in one sense did feel a little flat to me.

Due to the DNF status, I won’t post this review to Amazon.

This is based on such a random story that I'd never heard before reading this book. While not entirely true to historical reports I've read subsequently this is a good fictionalised account of the tale. Well written with well-roubded characters and a real sense of the time, from the description of a doctor's life to the meals they were eating.

This is the story of Queen Mary Tudor and the princess Elizabeth, as seen through the eyes of a servant. Alys arrives at the palace to work in the laundry where she meets Bel am day others. This is the perfect place to view events, and we see a different side of palace life than what is usually depicted in novels of the genre. Sent as a spy to work for the princess, we discover that Alys has secrets of her own.

This is a nice tale of palace life, the servants and tasks undertaken behind the scenes. There’s some great descriptions of London and some quirky characters. On the whole not a memorable novel, but nice enough, an alternative viewpoint of a fascinating time in history.

This book is based on the extraordinary story of Mary Toft, a Godalming woman who baffled medical society by appearing to give birth to rabbits. John Howard and his apprentice Zachary are called by her husband Joshua and what they find when they attend her, beggars belief. Severed pieces of rabbit are born and occurs on an almost daily basis. There appears to be no rational explanation. News of this occurrence soon reaches London, and after being observed by eminent surgeons, Mary Toft is taken to London to be observed. As vigil is kept over her, no more births occur. And suspicion begins to arise. When there is a suggestion that she should be cut open to learn more, John Howard, a good man, talks to Mary and she admits that it was all a hoax, a scam - to make money.

Highlighting the fascination with the morbid and the grotesque, it's hard to comprehend that she was able to convince so many for so long. But sometimes people believe what they want to believe. A sad and strange tale but fascinating nonetheless.

As a child, I loved any books about weird occurances, humans that were known as "freaks", carnivals and medical anomalies. The legend of the woman who gave birth to rabbits was something I has heard about but hadn't really looking into, so I was delighted to come across this novel!

Set in 1726 in a small community in Georgian England, a woman named Mary Toft begins giving birth to dead rabbits. These startling, bizarre events are observed through the eyes of 14-year-old Zachary Walsh, apprentice surgeon to John Howard, the doctor attending Mary Croft. The births don't sit well with John and he gets the local preacher involved, as more begin to happen. There is a real battle with philiopsy, science and religion that goes back and forth as a theme throughout the novel. Eventually news about the births reaches King George and royal physicians - they move Mary to London where the births (just as miraculously) stop. Mary is then branded a con and with the whole thing being a hoax. All the while, the seedy underbelly of London is unearthed.

This intriguing, well-written book immersed me in the manners, morals, attitudes, and beliefs in early 18th century England. Huge amounts of folklore and superstition that's absolutely fascinating!

This is such an interesting true story, about a woman in a small town who keeps giving birth to dead rabbits.

It takes place in 1726, when knowledge of human anatomy was just beginning, and knowledge about giving birth, especially for men was practically non-existent.

Mary Toft’s husband summons the town’s surgeon and male-midwife to attend to the early birth of what they think is their child. However, she gives birth to a dead rabbit, and keeps giving birth.... What follows on is quite astonishing, and sheds light on how medicine was at the time.

I really enjoyed this book, it’s well written, easy reading, and so interesting. It’s quite sad that we don’t know what happens afterwards, if anything. I feel I need more!

My thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the advance copy.

A wonderfully, dark historical novel, retelling the real-life case of Mary Toft, who in 1726 tricked doctors into believing that she had given birth to rabbits.

The novel is mostly told through then eyes of John Howard, the local village surgeon (doctor) and his new apprentice, Zachary, as they witness the first of these ‘births’. Inviting London doctors to examine Mary the situation gets out of hand, as it grows in rumour and through the doors of society. The story moves from the small village of Godalming to London, and it is whilst in the city that some of the darkest parts of the story occur. The story made me uncomfortable at points thanks to the imagery and wonderful descriptions the author uses.

Zachary is a great character, as a young apprentice he is used to ask questions and show uncertainty at what is happening. John’s wife, Alice was one of my favourite characters, she is not pulled into the same belief as her husband, and is used to show the ridiculousness of some of the characters, including Nathaneal St. Andre one of the London surgeons.

The novels questions how far people will go in their belief of something incredible and impossible; how intelligent and rational people will end up believing such a hoax. This book also highlights attitudes of women in the eighteenth-century. The novel opens with the arrival of a travelling show of curiosities, where its owner tells his audience that the ‘curiosities’ he will show are a direct result of the sins of their mothers at conception, during pregnancy and at delivery. We also have scenes of all the male doctors standing over examining Mary, and asking her husband’s permission to examine her, and not Mary herself. There is also the social and class differences. Mary is seen as an attraction to the English lords and ladies who come to gawp and stare at her. We are also shown how the London doctors take over from the works of the village doctor.

The ending felt a little rushed, as we end at Mary’s point of view, and yet it doesn’t quite answer everything in her actions, but overall the book is well researched, humorous, dark and incredibly entertaining. Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC to read and review.

This book may be based on a real person and the way life was in the 1700's but it was dark, grisly boring and just rambled on and on.

Some of the scenes are disturbingly graphic and there is are tales of a sideshow of human oddities that crosses through town right before Mary gives birth to her first rabbit. Which is just very disturbing.

Not one for me , i couldn't even finish it

A tale of fact, stranger than any fiction but spun beautifully by Dexter Palmer. He defines the beliefs of the time whilst adding a deeper, compassionate understanding of human complexity.

Set in the first half of the 18th Century, we are introduced to a town surgeon and male midwife called John Howard from Godalming in Surrey. His solid reputation teeters when he attends a delivery for a client, one Mary Toft. When he, alongside his apprentice Zachary, find Mary births a dismembered rabbit and not a baby, his whole profession is called into question. After then delivering countless successive rabbit births and endless soul searching, he finally writes to reputable surgeons in London to help provide a plausible answer to the medical conundrum.

The tale spirals out of control with public and indeed even royal interest and catapults the characters from Surrey to London. Palmer here inserts a daring interlude involving a bawdy play, a burning bull and the wrath of a cat no less! London’s licentiousness trumps Mary’s fiendish births as she is unable to perform in the capital.

Palmer explores the flaws in medical treatment and benefit of the time through Mary’s bizarre behaviour and the subsequent discovery. A highly entertaining book that stokes an already true tale into an explosive one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown UK for this advanced readers copy in return for my honest review. This was a violent book, which I found to be strangely repulsive and addictive in equal measure. Definitely not for the faint of heart.