Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz
Narrated by Mhairi Morrison and Tim Campbell
Macmillan Young Listeners
Release date: January 18, 2022
ISBN: 9781250840578
The year is 1817 and Hazel Sinnett wants nothing more than to be a surgeon. Unfortunately for her, she is of noble birth. As far as society is concerned, her life’s purpose is to obtain a good marriage. But she is determined to prove her worth as a physician. When she meets Jack, a boy who makes money by digging up bodies for doctors to study, she enlists him to help her find corpses she can dissect to aid in her learning. Soon, they find themselves enmeshed in secrets and fear as rumors of magical cures, poor people being stolen off the streets, and a plague racing through the city threaten them both.
This audiobook captures the sense of the gothic, and the narrators are properly atmospheric adding to the spooky nature of the book. Readers will be left yearning for more, and a sense that answers are lurking just out of sight. Perfect for readers who are craving a steampunk-esque book with a little bit of a Frankenstein edge. Similar to Gail Carriger’s Etiquette and Espionage, and The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White.
–Katie Patterson and Josie Snow
The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.
Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.