| Judges report
Human Remains is a remarkable debut. In this spine-chilling dissection of the moral underworld of the Victorian body snatchers, Helen MacDonald offers an elegant, informative and gripping tale of a medical practice that has been all but forgotten. Or has it? Lightly touching on the contemporary relevance of the 19th-century fascination with dissection and bone collecting, and written with historical insight and flair, Human Remains is ethnographic history at its detailed, dramatic and disturbing best. MacDonald imbues the unwitting subjects of the 19th-century dissection trade with a degree of dignity, showing us something meaningful of their lives as well as their after-lives on slab and in the pickling jar. She also anatomises the anatomists - their motives, their vanities and their crimes. She bridges the imaginative gulf between their world and ours, posing disturbing questions about the origins of modern medicine and continuing conflicts over the rights of the dead. MacDonald's consummate skill as a writer and innovation as a researcher combine to produce an extremely satisfying and thought-provoking reading experience. |
