Mary Hooper - Newes From The Dead

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Product Description

"Intriguing and captivating."—Celia Rees, author of
Witch Child


 


WRONGED. HANGED. ALIVE? (AND TRUE!)


Anne can't move a muscle, can't open her eyes, can't scream. She lies immobile in the darkness, unsure if she'd dead, terrified she's buried alive, haunted by her final memory—of being hanged. A maidservant falsely accused of infanticide in 1650 England and sent to the scaffold, Anne Green is trapped with her racing thoughts, her burning need to revisit the events—and the man—that led her to the gallows.


 


Meanwhile, a shy 18-year-old medical student attends his first dissection and notices something strange as the doctors prepare their tools . . . Did her eyelids just flutter? Could this corpse be alive?


 


Beautifully written, impossible to put down, and meticulously researched,
Newes from the Dead is based on the true story of the real Anne Green, a servant who survived a hanging to awaken on the dissection table.
Newes from the Dead concludes with scans of the original 1651 document that recounts this chilling medical phenomenon.


 



Newes from the Dead is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.


From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up—A grabber of a premise: It's England, 1650, and as the dissection of an ill-fated 22-year-old servant woman newly unstrung from the gallows begins, the participants detect the cadaver's eyes flickering. Hooper alternates perspective from Anne (the not-actually-dead corpse), who flashes back to explain how she ended up there, to that of a young intellectual attendee of the dissection, a sympathetic stutterer named Robert. Anne's story, rife with gruesome scenes of Puritan-era life (e.g., a rat-infested prison, a bloody miscarriage in a dirty privy) trumps Robert's drier account of the discourse among various distinguished intellectuals of the day, unless readers are well versed in the period's historical details (e.g., when Christopher Wren is teased for his poor poetry). The resulting back-and-forth of the two narrators makes for a poorly paced read, but the pervasive sense of injustice and indignity is vibrant enough to buoy readers through to the unexpectedly positive ending. Loosely based on a true story—hence the title, taken from broadsides published at the time—with a decidedly unromantic view of the era, this is a must-read for teens learning about Cromwell and the Puritan revolution, or for young feminists who appreciate narratives about the treatment of women in history.—
Rhona Campbell, Washington, DC Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From AudioFile
In mid-seventeenth-century England, Anne Green gives birth to a stillborn child. Thereafter, she is tried and sentenced to hang for infanticide. When her body is given to Oxford medical scholars for dissection, she is discovered to be still alive. The story unfolds in two parts--Anne's account of how she came to be hanged and the amazing medical miracle as told by a young Oxford scholar. Rosalyn Landor creates a wide variety of common voices for Anne's world and infuses her portrayal of Anne with appropriate innocence and bewilderment. Michael Page portrays the pomposity of the scholars, doing an especially fine job with the young, stammering Robert. The dual narration heightens the horror of this tale--based on a true story--making it a perfect choice for listening. S.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
Review


“Intriguing and captivating.”—Celia Rees


“A chilling, mesmerizing read.”—
Kirkus Reviews


“A grabber of a premise.”—
School Library Journal


“A historical mystery that is creepy in the best Edgar Allen Poe tradition, as well as thought-provoking.”—
Booklist


“First-rate . . . Anne’s story, handled with skill and passion, will be hard for anyone to put down.”—
The Times (UK)


“A well researched, riveting read.”—
The Horn Book


Excerpt. © Reprinted by

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