Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper

This is a fictionalized account of the life of Anne Green, a rael historical character, who was hanged for infanticide at Oxford assizes in 1650, didn't die and was restored to life by the doctors who had bought her corpse for dissection. She died much later in 1665.

Mary Hooper has created a world in which we can believe, the sense of place and time, particularly in the attitudes towards women, emphasized in Anne's case as she was only a servant in the big house, making thsi a difficult and dangerous place for a naive and gullible girl like Anne to live.

I read this in one sitting - you are gripped from the begining. You know Anne survives from the title page but you are still entirely gripped by the story and how it unfolds - and are horrified that she may be dissected before the Doctors realise what has happened. Real people play their part and are skillfully woven into the fiction created here. Historical fiction seems to be enjoying a new vogue - enjoy this one as it is one of the best...