From the acclaimed author of the bestselling Italian Fever comes a fresh twist on the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, a novel told from the perspective of Mary Reilly, Dr. Jekyll's dutiful and intelligent housemaid.
Faithfully weaving in details from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Martin introduces an original and captivating character: Mary is a survivor–scarred but still strong–familiar with evil, yet brimming with devotion and love. As a bond grows between Mary and her tortured employer, she is sent on errands to unsavory districts of London and entrusted with secrets she would rather not know. Unable to confront her hideous suspicions about Dr. Jekyll, Mary ultimately proves the lengths to which she'll go to protect him. Through her astute reflections, we hear the rest of the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, and this familiar tale is made more terrifying than we remember it, more complex than we imagined possible.
Valerie Martin is the author of three collections of short fiction, most recently The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories, and eight novels, including Trespass, Italian Fever, The Great Divorce, Mary Reilly—winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka prize and the subject of a film directed by Stephen Frears—and the 2003 Orange Prize-winning Property. She is also the author of the nonfiction work Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis. She resides in upstate New York.
Praise
Praise
"Brilliant.... A powerful and moving novel."?Los Angeles Times Book Review