{"product_id":"the-specimens-by-mairi-kidd-9781785306471","title":"The Specimens","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"A work of fiction that is both a potent portrait of early 19th-century Edinburgh but also a story about female agency or the lack of it. The result is a compelling, painful, haunted piece of work.\"\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003eTHE HERALD\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUp the close and down the stair, meet the women of Burke and Hare\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEdinburgh, 1828. Two women - one rich, one poor - must navigate life against a frenzied backdrop of medical discovery, mob mayhem, and murder.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe home Helen shares in the slums of the Old Town with her lover William Burke could hardly be more different from Susan's dreams of an affluent existence as the wife of Robert Knox, one of the foremost anatomists of the day. But as people begin disappearing, these two very different women face an impossible choice. Should they protect what lives they have or tell the truth about what they know?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis is the story of the notorious serial killings of Burke and Hare, told for the first time through the eyes of two very different women, whose stories explore the depths of the human heart in a perilous, vulnerable world.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003ci\u003eThe Specimens\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Beguiling and atmospheric, this is as much an engrossing character study as a bold reimagining of the infamous anatomy murders.\"\u003c\/i\u003e HEAT MAGAZINE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"A fresh, feminine take on the horrors of Burke and Hare and their complicit Edinburgh anatomists\"\u003c\/i\u003e SALLY MAGNUSSON\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Gruesomely gripping, this story will stay with you for a long time, its characters so well developed, you fear you might bump into one in a dark Edinburgh close\"\u003c\/i\u003e SUE LAWRENCE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Mairi Kidd holds a lantern up to the brutality of women's lives in Burke, Hare and Knox's Edinburgh. She draws a fine thread between women's bodily experiences now and then, and her voice is so authentic I felt as if I was there\"\u003c\/i\u003e LUCY RIBCHESTER\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47433047900396,"sku":"9781785306471","price":36.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781785306471.jpg?v=1774765691","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/the-specimens-by-mairi-kidd-9781785306471","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}