Melinda Taub The Shocking Experiments of Miss Mary Bennet: The Electric Queer Retelling of Pride & Prejudice from Mary’s Point Of View* Science Fiction|Lgbtq+

Frankenstein meets Fingersmith in this brilliant, queer reimagining of the most ignored sister in Pride & Prejudice, Miss Mary Bennet

Mary Bennet has always been ignored by her family – her beautiful, perfect sisters, her nervous mother, her disinterested father – but she lives a rich life nonetheless. Inspired by the great men of science of her day, she hides herself away in the attic and carries out experiments, hoping that she might discover or invent something that will allow her to live independently, without having to worry about marriage or entailment.

When an unscrupulous actor takes advantage of Mary’s naivety, she responds in the only way she knows how: by burying herself in her work. And then, a chance combination of a bird’s corpse, the right chemicals, and a lightning strike find her considering the impossible: she may have just brought the dead back to life.

Mary knows she won’t be able to carry out her work alone. And she certainly can’t turn to her family for assistance. Happily for her, she has a single truly trustworthy correspondent with whom she can discuss anything – even the principles of reanimation.

But her experiments may do more than bring the dead back to life. If she’s not careful, Mary just might find herself in that most puzzling of human experiences: falling in love.

A witting, thoughtful reimagining of Pride & Prejudice from the perspective of a truly daring, extraordinary young woman, THE SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS OF MISS MARY BENNET is sure to delight even the most hard-hearted of readers, alive or dead.