Our Hideous Progeny: A Novel

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The reason I’m not giving this a full 5 stars, is the far-fetched display of Mary’s connection with her scientific creation. It seemed rushed and over-the-top, and while I do think that animals are capable of immense love and affection, I didn’t entirely buy Mary’s attachment to what she had put together and what they meant to each other. Though sexual relationships between women were not criminalized, women whose romantic inclinations defied the heterosexual standard generally faced a choice between repressing their desires and living as outcasts. Was Mary Shelley herself such a woman? The Dutch novelist Anne Eekhout suggests as much in “ Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein” (HarperVia), a reimagining of both Mary’s early life and the period during which she wrote her famous novel. Regardless of whether her biography confirms that designation—and at least one late relationship suggests that it does—Eekhout’s book, together with two other recent novels that expand the contours of Shelley’s life, offers a bold new framing for questions about where we draw lines: between queerness and heterosexuality, the natural and the unnatural, and the imaginary and the real. There are villains in this story, but no heroes; heroines instead take their place, in the form of Mary, and her poorly, gentle sister-in-law Maisie. This book takes a look at the society and politics of the time; of the disparities between class, gender and race, and refuses to make apologies for the way things once were; instead giving us characters who question and rebel at the time, though who understand the limits of such action. Unfortunately, in a world where scientific success requires wealth and connections, they don’t stand a chance: Mary, the illegitimate daughter of a housemaid, with a sharp mind and a sharper tongue; and Henry, a recently-fired geologist better known for his gambling problems than his radical theories. But when Mary discovers some old family papers that reveal the truth of her great-uncle’s past, she comes up with a plan—one that will pay their debts, prove Henry’s theories right, and finally get her some of the respect she goddamn deserves. A fantastic read: I felt everything about Mary, her simmering anger and her intellectual delight' FREYA MARSKE, author of THE LAST BINDING trilogy

This book is filled with science - which may sound boring, at first mention, but proves itself to be anything but. Long words and terms may sometimes go over my head, but the passion and intelligence of Mary, a woman who yearns for far more than she is able to have as a woman in Victorian society, is infectious. Since she was a child, she found herself fascinated with geology, paleontology and fossils. Professors and scholars and scientific societies are abound in this tale, with the discovery and vast interest in dinosaurs at the centre of it all.Who suddenly has an epiphany one day. Who decides to look into Victor Frankenstein's work and research and when she discovers... Honestly, I didn't finish this book. I DNF'd it at 40-ish percent and have no desire to revisit it, For all the marketing and talk of this being a queer feminist retelling of "Frankenstein", it was indeed that. It was so cookie-cutter and predictable that I earnestly believe that Shelley would be offended at anybody calling this a retelling of her work. I found the pacing of this to be incredibly slow and just boring. Mary as a character isn't particularly engaging and nothing that was happening at the 40% mark gave me any reason to continue any further. I don't mean to speak so badly about this novel but I was just not a fan. Characters: They definitely weren’t all lovable, bu they were real. Mary was so witty and easy to root for, Henry was INFURIATING, and Maisie was super sweet (plus that chronic illness rep!!)

C.E. McGill’s richly detailed and utterly compelling debut was a deliciously gothic and feminist exploration of ambition, obsession, betrayal and love that I couldn’t get enough of! I loved every second of this! It’s such an electrifyingly creative and wholly original take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and I genuinely couldn’t put it down. Mary wants to be known for her scientific mind, but as a woman in the 1850s, this is going to be so much more difficult than it would be for a man. She works alongside her geologist husband, Henry, but without money or connections, their options are limited. The tide begins to change, however, when Mary finds old documents belonging to her Uncle Victor. After reading them, she decides to follow in his footsteps, thereby devising a plan to create life. She and Henry, in time, construct a patchwork creature, made from pieces and parts of deceased animals; a creature that will ultimately drive the couple apart due to Mary’s love for it and Henry’s desire to exploit it. Nevertheless, the book is a superb debut. McGill sure has a sunny career ahead of them. I’m jealous of their talent.

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The 1850s is a time of discovery and London is ablaze with the latest scientific theories and debates, especially when a spectacular new exhibition of dinosaur sculptures opens at the Crystal Palace. Mary, with a sharp mind and a sharper tongue, is keen to make her name in this world of science, alongside her geologist husband Henry, but without wealth and connections, their options are limited. A very tightly-written creative spin off of the tale of Frankenstein that beautifully captures the themes in the original, while adding more that will delight readers of historical fiction. Without a doubt, this is one of my favourite reads of the year. FANTASYBOOKCRITIC.COM I’m going to need every to drop what they’re doing and add this to their TBR right now. This was absolutely everything I was hoping for and more.

Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the Arctic but she doesn't know why or how... After these tragedies, Shelley developed an intense friendship with Jane Williams, the widow of a friend who had drowned with Percy. Recalling these years in a letter to a friend in 1835, Shelley confessed that, after Percy died, she was “ready to give myself away—and being afraid of men, I was apt to get tousy-mousy for women” (a reference to sex). In the travel book “Rambles in Germany and Italy’’ (1844), Shelley’s final published work, she wrote of the art she had encountered and argued that artists should not be condemned for depicting homosexual love—“a bold stance that was anathema to most Victorians,” Charlotte Gordon argues in “Romantic Outlaws,” her dual biography of Shelley and her mother, the writer and political activist Mary Wollstonecraft. Gordon describes the real-life Isabella Baxter and Mary Shelley as sharing a mutual admiration for Booth—feared by neighbors for his “prodigious store of arcane knowledge,” but also for his radical politics—and writes that Shelley encouraged Baxter to marry him after her sister’s death. In Eekhout’s novel, these events play out differently. But, in its philosophy, this fictional excavation of a lesser-known episode in Shelley’s life feels true to her memory. But on the precipice of success, Mary begins to question the ethics and morality surrounding their creation and the love that she has developed for the creature. Our Hideous Progeny has so much going on that it's hard to know where to start a review. We follow Mary, an aspiring palaeontologist living in London in 1853. She's quietly bisexual, married to a geologist she isn't quite sure she loves or respects any more, mourning a stillborn daughter, processing the effects of a traumatic childhood, looking for a way to make her mark on the world.Witty, dark and sharp as a scalpel, it's a dazzling exploration of the macabre ambitions of Victorian science and a moving meditation on grief. C.E. McGill brilliantly captures what it's like to be a woman in a man's world. LIZZIE POOK, author of MOONLIGHT AND THE PEARLER'S DAUGHTER

Armed only with letters containing snippets of her great uncles’ past —of creating life from death (which ultimately led to his own), Mary decides to use what little of his research remains to take the scientific community by storm. And, with her husband Henry, attempt to bring life to a creature never before seen by human eyes. Our Hideous Progeny also so desperately tried to be feminist and anti-racism that at some point, I stopped seriously taking it as such. Sure, it critiqued the classism and elitism of academia, but there are only so many "oh-this-is-so-unfair-I-don't-understand-why-it-can't-be-changed-and-made-fair" you can shove down my throat before I start feeling as if I'm treated like an idiot. "Subtlety" is something this book would truly benefit from. Well, read it and find out. It's a beautiful book. Absolutely sumptuous. I was completely mesmerized by it. I borrowed the copy I read - I want to own it. I love this type of story, where a woman is battling against society’s norms & expectations of her. Mary is a fierce character. I love the contrast between Henry & herself, with Mary clearly being the stronger in the partnership. Henry typically allows himself to be steered by wealth & notoriety, whereas Mary keeps them grounded by her sense of what is right. I think the main problem is that I went into this story expecting something that it was not. Frankenstein as a character is deeply unlikable, morally ambiguous and his descent into madness is fascinating to read about. Mary, however, is meant to be likable. She has a strong head on her shoulders and the reader is supposed to sympathize with the hardships she faces. And unfortunately that does not make her very interesting to me considering this is a gothic novel. I wanted to root for an unhinged female character who was difficult to defend. I wanted so much more gritty darkness than what we got.Years ago, Mary’s great uncle—dropout medical student Victor Frankenstein—disappeared in the Arctic. Now, in 1853, she and her husband Henry live in London, struggling to make a name for themselves as paleontologists. I was in absolute awe of just how immersive the descriptions were and loved that it really delves into the inequalities of the Victorian era and the classist, sexist and racist attitudes which were prevalent and still very much relevant today. Imagine Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein but with a feminist main character. This take on Frankenstein is not some fantastical “women were impervious to the 19th century patriarchal norm”, no, the author embraced that notion and introduced Mary Elizabeth, a character that showed the readers how she was ‘bloody but unbowed’ by the pressures societal standards and etiquette. Compelling and utterly absorbing, Our Hideous Progeny is an artfully crafted debut that echoes the dark essence of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein while maintaining a fascinating originality all of its own. SUSAN STOKES-CHAPMAN, author of PANDORA The author of Our Hideous Progeny, C.E. McGill, is only 23 years old. To be a published author at such a young age is quite an accomplishment. But even more impressive is that they have written a debut that is far better than many seasoned writers’ second, third, or fourth novels.