Book cover of Mary Reilly

Book description

From the acclaimed author of the bestselling Italian Fever and award-winning Property, comes a fresh twist on the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, a novel told from the perspective of Dr. Jekyll's dutiful and intelligent housemaid.

"Part psychological novel, part social history, part eerie horror tale ... dark and moving…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Mary Reilly as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

At first, Martin’s novel appears to be an account of a Victorian housemaid’s daily life, but after a couple of chapters, her employer’s name—Dr. Jekyll!—is revealed, and a third of the way in, his friend Mr. Hyde is mentioned, and by then, the true nature of the story is unmistakable.

I loved how Martin subtly incorporated familiar details from Stevenson’s novella but filtered them through Mary’s innocent, unwitting perspective. Always, the story remains firmly Mary’s; I welcomed her moral sense and opinions as a counterweight to Jekyll’s arrogance. 

If you love Mary Reilly...

Book cover of Sufferance

Sufferance by Charles Palliser,

This is a novel about choices. How would you have chosen to act during the Second World War if your country had been invaded and occupied by a brutal enemy determined to isolate and murder a whole community?

That’s the situation facing an ordinary family man with two children, a…

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