Mary Reilly

by Valerie Martin

Overview

From the acclaimed author of the bestselling Italian Fever and award-winning Property, comes a fresh twist on the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, a novel told from the perspective of Dr. Jekyll's dutiful and intelligent housemaid.

"Part psychological novel, part social history, part eerie horror tale ... dark and moving and powerful." —The Washington Post

Faithfully weaving in details from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Martin introduces an original and captivating character: Mary is a survivor—scarred but still strong—familiar with evil, yet brimming with devotion and love. As a bond grows between Mary and her tortured employer, she is sent on errands to unsavory districts of London and entrusted with secrets she would rather not know. Unable to confront her hideous suspicions about Dr. Jekyll, Mary ultimately proves the lengths to which she'll go to protect him. Through her astute reflections, we hear the rest of the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, and this familiar tale is made more terrifying than we remember it, more complex than we imagined possible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375725999
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/10/2001
Series:	Vintage Contemporaries
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	690,340
Product dimensions:	5.21(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

VALERIE MARTIN is the author of ten novels, including The Ghost of the Mary Celeste, The Confessions of Edward Day, Trespass, Mary Reilly, Italian Fever, and Property; three collections of short fiction; and a biography of Saint Francis of Assisi, titled Salvation. She has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as the Kafka Prize (for Mary Reilly) and Britain’s Orange Prize (for Property).

Editorial Reviews

"Part psychological novel, part social history, part eerie horror tale, Mary Reilly is dark and moving and powerful." —The Washington Post

“The generosity with which Mary Reilly is imagined, the elegance of Martin's writing and the depth of her engagement with her title character make it a memorable and absorbing experience.” —Chicago Tribune

“Valerie Martin creates memorable characters: the pompous butler…an unctuous landlord…and the utterly convincing Mary, with a housemaid's eye, a servant's rigorous sense of place-and a sufferer's hard won dignity.” —Newsweek

“Mary Reilly is an achievement-creativity skating exhilaratingly on thin ice.” —The New York Times

“Mary is a remarkable character…. A marvelous performance.” —USA Today

"Brilliant.... A powerful and moving novel." —Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Haunting.... Powerful…. Mary Reilly's voice…casts a spell from the beginning: we turn the pages, furiously compelled, because we must know more about her.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“Entrancing and elegant…. A seamless retelling of the Jekyll and Hyde story that is both a compliment and a complement to the original.” —The Orlando Sentinel

“Mary Reilly is intensely cinematic, highly dramatic, suspenseful, stirring and entirely absorbing…. Mary Reilly is magnificent.” —The Kansas City Star

“Mary Reilly is a virtuoso work, a meticulously crafted, resplendently written story…. Authentic in its abundance of historical detail, it is also unbounded in Martin's imaginative exploration of the psyche of a young girl.” —Daily News

From the Publisher

Mary Reilly, housemaid and devoted friend of Dr. Henry Jekyll, senses pk that something is dreadfully wrong with the weary and laboratory-obsessed scientist, who has hired Edward Hyde as his assistant. ``Spare and atmospheric, this story is a dark, absorbing symphony; Mary Reilly is an unforgettable character,'' PW said. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This retelling of the enigmatic Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde tale deserves praise for suspense, character creation, and historical verisimilitude. Mary Reilly, a loyal, trusted servant in the household of Dr. Jekyll records in her diary the mysterious circumstances which lead to her Master's tragic fate. The hierarchy of social classes, relationships among servants and domestics, and details of language and dress enhance this marvelous re-creation with the realism of Dickens. Mary represents the apex of devotion, goodness, and honesty, in contrast to the dual nature and complexity of Dr. Jekyll, whose shadow side threatens to destroy all bounds of decency, law, and order. Less convincing is the tinge of romance between Mary and Jekyll. Most compelling is a forceful consciousness about the dual propensity of human nature and the awesome power which is ours. BOMC featured alternate; Quality Paperback Book Club selection. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/89.-- Addie Lee Bracy, Beaver Coll. Lib., Glenside, Pa.

Library Journal