The Woman Who Gave Birth to RabbitsThe Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits
Stories
Title rated 2.8 out of 5 stars, based on 9 ratings(9 ratings)
Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, First edition, No Longer Available.Book, 2002
Current format, Book, 2002, First edition, No Longer Available. Offered in 0 more formatsA collection of short stories depicts the bizarre sideshows of humanity lost to traditional history as seen through obscure historic records, including the tale of a seventeenth-century countess who ran away to Italy disguised as a man.
A rollicking collection of short stories depicts the bizarre sideshows of humanity lost to traditional history as seen through obscure scraps of historic records, from the tale of an Irish soldier who is tricked into marriage, to a seventeenth-century countess who ran away to Italy disguised as a man. 35,000 first printing.
Donoghue finds her inspiration for these wry, robust tales in obscure scraps of historical records: an engraving of a woman giving birth to rabbits; a plague ballad; surgical case notes; theological pamphlets; an articulated skeleton. Here kings, surgeons, soldiers, and ladies of leisure rub shoulders with cross-dressers, cult leaders, poisoners, and arsonists.
Whether she's spinning the tale of an Irish soldier tricked into marrying a dowdy spinster, a Victorian surgeon's attempts to "improve" women, a seventeenth-century countess who ran away to Italy disguised as a man, or an "undead" murderess returning for the maid she left behind to be executed in her place, Emma Donoghue brings to her stories an "elegant, colorful prose filled with unforgettable sights, sounds and smells" (Elle). Here she summons the ghosts of those women who counted for nothing in their own day, but who come to unforgettable life in fiction.
A rollicking collection of short stories depicts the bizarre sideshows of humanity lost to traditional history as seen through obscure scraps of historic records, from the tale of an Irish soldier who is tricked into marriage, to a seventeenth-century countess who ran away to Italy disguised as a man. 35,000 first printing.
Donoghue finds her inspiration for these wry, robust tales in obscure scraps of historical records: an engraving of a woman giving birth to rabbits; a plague ballad; surgical case notes; theological pamphlets; an articulated skeleton. Here kings, surgeons, soldiers, and ladies of leisure rub shoulders with cross-dressers, cult leaders, poisoners, and arsonists.
Whether she's spinning the tale of an Irish soldier tricked into marrying a dowdy spinster, a Victorian surgeon's attempts to "improve" women, a seventeenth-century countess who ran away to Italy disguised as a man, or an "undead" murderess returning for the maid she left behind to be executed in her place, Emma Donoghue brings to her stories an "elegant, colorful prose filled with unforgettable sights, sounds and smells" (Elle). Here she summons the ghosts of those women who counted for nothing in their own day, but who come to unforgettable life in fiction.
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- New York : Harcourt, [2002], ©2002
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