As a rule, I don't plump for historical fiction. It's a great genre, sometimes, but I struggle with the inherent tragedy of it, or the need to make hugely anachronistic changes (I mean surely, just set it in a fantasy world?) and I was a little worried, when I requested this, that I might be setting myself up... but I was just too tempted by the subject matter. A Gothic historical-mystery about resurrectionists featuring MM romance? I mean. come on! And I am so glad I broke my own rules. The Resurrectionist is deeply accurate. Facts and reality abound, the language is perfectly formal, without tipping over into ridiculousness, the characters felt fully realised, and of their time, and the gore, the Gothic edge, was satisfying without becoming egregious.

Dunlap has done her homework here, and you can tell resurrectionists, medical history, and Edinburgh are all things in which she has a committed interest. It has been a long time since I read something that felt so thoroughly researched, and yet also so naturally informational. Of course a young man having moved to a new city would learn his way around; of course two people obsessed by their medical vocations would occasionally drop anatomical terminology into conversation, would think about where on the skull of their lover they have pressed their lips; and , of course, two young men enamoured by one another would pursue that romance despite the laws of the time.

The relationships throughout this novel were a real highlight. Dunlap crafts personalities and connections with exceptional dexterity, creating from the damp fog of Edinburgh warm, genuine humanity. Particularly brilliant was her humour, woven carefully and skilfully through conversations and interactions, which reminded me time and time again that these were 20-something year old men, and really made them feel like they were! This is also, however, where the book loses a star. As is sometimes the trouble with first person narratives, James has a tendency to believe people are behaving entirely out of character, and then berate himself when it turns out they are being dishonest. Given he was 1) in his 20s and 2) had known Nye for quite some time by the tail end of the book, it just wasn't believable anymore, and was actually a bit grating.

That being said, this was overwhelming excellent, and I enjoyed more or less every moment of it. 4 stars.

The Resurrectionist is a historical novel about a young medical student who arrives in Edinburgh, meets an intriguing dissection assistant, and falls into the world of stealing corpses for use in medical schools. James arrives in Edinburgh to pursue his dream of attending medical school, having escaped his family's expectations for him but lacking money after this father's death. When he strikes a deal to attend a private anatomy school with Nye, the assistant, James finds himself drawn into an underground world of supplying dead bodies for medical schools, treading the line between scientific progress and crime, but alongside the thrill of the danger is another thrill, as James finds himself with feelings for Nye.

I tend to be selective with the historical novels I read, but this one looked interesting for the queer love story and the gruesome premise. The former element is definitely prevalent in the book, though it feels more like a young adult book in the way this is treated with vague references to what James and Nye do together. There's a slight level of peril due to the time period and legal and social ramifications of gay relationships, but it always seems to be kept as something that's a vague annoyance to James rather than the danger it has previously placed Nye in, which again makes it feel like a young adult novel that doesn't quite want to delve into how it would feel to exist like that. Not that this is a bad thing, as people often want to read historical novels that aren't just about queer misery, but in this case it is meant to be a threat, just not one that is explored.

The gruesome element isn't really all that dark, as this book is more of a gothic-atmosphere historical novel than anything particularly scary or gritty. There's a bit of stuff about university medical education vs practical anatomy and dissection, but otherwise the medical student is really just the background, and James' student friends are there as plot devices as needed. Again, this works for the book as it has a simple narrative, but it never really delves more deeply into anything, being quite coy about a lot of elements (like one of two female characters, a young woman who helps out Nye and the diggers, but we never quite see what her seemingly disreputable existence actually is). There's a lot about class, wealth, and power in the book that again isn't really explored, and particularly the ending is very neat, ignoring these things for a happy ending that seems to set up for a potential sequel.

This is a fun book if you like light queer romance with a gothic premise, though I think the style and narrative mean it would be better suited marketed as young adult fiction (and I can think of young adult books that do delve more into the kind of material this one avoids). I enjoyed reading it, but I found the ending too easily resolved and without much emotional power, because everything seemed too easy for them. I think there will be a lot of fans of this book who enjoy the romance and the vibes, but on reflection, it wasn't entirely for me.

This book was utterly fantastic. I adored the writing style. The setting and the characters were fantastic, well-rounded and unique, and the romance was an undercurrent to the storyline, not the only thing that mattered. Absolutely fantastic

It’s 1828 and James Willoughby has just arrived in Edinburgh to begin his medical studies at the university. Having found himself completely unsuited to the career in the church that his parents had planned for him, James has decided that medicine is his true vocation. After speaking to some of his fellow students, he discovers that due to the large class sizes the university can only offer very limited opportunities for practical experience. In order to gain the surgical knowledge he desires, it will also be necessary to attend one of the city’s private anatomy schools where he’ll be able to dissect and study the human body for himself.

Although James comes from a wealthy family, they have fallen on hard times since his father’s death. There’s enough money to pay for his lodgings at the Hope and Anchor Inn, but not much else. If he wants to go to anatomy school, he’ll have to find a way to pay the fees himself. Signing up for Dr Malstrom’s prestigious school, James confides in the doctor’s apprentice, Aneurin MacKinnon, explaining his financial difficulties. Aneurin – or Nye, as he prefers to be called – tells him he may have a solution to the problem. And with that, James finds himself drawn into the secretive, macabre world of body snatching – taking corpses from graves under cover of darkness and selling them to anatomists for study and research purposes.

I loved this book! As a debut novel it’s very impressive and I’ll certainly be looking out for more by A. Rae Dunlap. From the very first page she captures the formal feel of the 19th century novel and manages to avoid using the sort of inappropriately modern language that could have so easily pulled the reader out of the historical setting. As with Ambrose Parry’s Raven and Fisher series, there are lots of insights into the medical world of 19th century Edinburgh, with the focus here being on the study of anatomy and surgery and how progress was hampered by the lack of human cadavers for students to work with. Edinburgh itself provides an atmospheric setting for the novel, especially as most of the action, for obvious reasons, takes place at night. There are lots of suitably Gothic descriptions of lonely cemeteries, dark alleys and disreputable inns, all forming the backdrop to the trade of body snatching.

The Resurrectionist is narrated by James Willoughby, whom I really liked and believed in as a character. He begins the novel as an innocent, well-meaning young man who has led a somewhat sheltered life and who gradually grows as a person as he has his eyes opened to things and experiences he had never imagined. Over the course of the novel, we see a friendship form between James and the more worldly Nye, which eventually develops into something more. I thought the story was already interesting enough without adding a romance, but it does seem to arise naturally from the characters’ interactions rather than being forced in for the sake of it. It also provides an extra sense of danger, as both men are under no illusions as to the importance of keeping their relationship secret and what could happen to them if they are found out.

Although James and Nye and their friends are fictional, several other characters in the book really existed, most notably the infamous Burke and Hare, probably the best known body snatchers – or ‘resurrectionists’ – in history. As competition amongst the city’s anatomists increases and tasked with providing a steady supply of corpses for their employer Dr Knox, Burke and Hare decide that in addition to grave robbing, there could be another way to meet the demand for bodies. I knew very little about Burke and Hare before reading this book, so I enjoyed seeing how things played out for them and how Dunlap seamlessly worked them into James and Nye’s fictional story while also staying true to the historical facts.

The end of the novel wraps things up enough to make this a satisfactory standalone, but also sets up a potential sequel. This one felt very much like a coming of age novel for James, so I would be interested to see what the future has in store for him. If Dunlap has decided to move on and write something different, though, I will be equally interested to read whatever it is!

I thought the main character, James, was exceptionally well drawn and the story was good. I particularly liked his story about the Scottish weather not matching his clothing choices. Altogether a good read.

3.5 ⭐



I liked James, and indeed Nye, despite the strange way in which they pass their time.
They made the whole ressurectionist thing feel like quite an adventure. It's definitely not a dark and gritty story, in fact it feels quite light hearted at time.
That would be the banter between characters.
I was enjoying it enough before throwing some famous names into the mix, but that certainly got my interest up more.

An enjoyable way to spend a few hours, despite all the corpses... or maybe because of them. 😁

This is a really difficult book to rate! I see some reviews say it's too dark and others say it's not dark enough, so it feels very subjective. The highlight for me was definitely the romance, which was sweet and I really loved the chemistry between the characters.

That said, I didn't really vibe with the book as a whole. Overall I liked it and had a good time reading it, but it felt like there was a bit too much going on at any one given time. Queer awakening, academia/science, family trauma, coming of age, action/adventure, murder mystery, Burke and Hare, and romance. And because there was so much going on, with new plot elements being introduced, the topics didn't feel as deep as they could have, resulting in a very YA feeling plot with characters that felt too much like archetypes. (There was a bit of showing rather than telling, which didn't help that impression.)

I think if you go into this expecting an upper YA or NA story, you'll enjoy it. I'd also recommend you don't read the synopsis, which makes it sound grittier of a story than it really is (and this is about as cozy as a book about gravedigging can be).

So even though I have complicated feelings about this book (my rating keeps changing but it's probably closer to a 3.5): there is room for a sequel and I'd still read it because I'd love to see where the characters end up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC!