Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper

newes from the deadTwenty-two year old scullery maid Anne Green is NOT having a very good day. First, she was hung by the neck after being found guilty of a crime she didn’t commit. Then, she wakes up in total darkness, not being able to move or speak, and realizes that instead of standing at the pearly gates, she is actually STILL ALIVE IN HER COFFIN! Worse yet, just on the other side of the rough wooden planks, doctors are deciding which of her lovely limbs they’re going to carve up first in the name of science. See, Anne’s body has been requested for dissection by the good physicians of Oxford University, and her parents are too poor to demand it back. So unless Anne finds her voice, and soon, she’s going to go all to pieces—literally! Based on the true story of a young woman in 1650 England who survived the hangman’s noose, this enormously hip historical fiction by Brit author Mary Hooper is written in chapters that alternate between Anne’s increasingly anxious voice as she recounts the events that led to her almost-end, and the room outside her coffin, where a young medical student begins to notice signs of life in Anne’s ice-cold corpse. Utterly-un-put-down-able, you will find yourself frantically reading ahead to see if Anne lived through the noose just to fall prey to the doctors’ scalpels. If you’ll pardon the pun, it’s a ripping good read!

7 thoughts on “Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper

  1. Holy cow that sounds creepy and totally awesome. Kind of like “Johnny Got His Gun.”

  2. That sounds like a bloody descousting book that is just right for my book club!
    FYI it consistes of girls too, and we can handle the blood more than any of you guys can!

  3. ive read this book and i might say it was the BEST BOOK i have ever read! please if you get the chance give it a go its unbelieveable and becuase it is true you cant believe what a miricale that girl really was!
    the way it was written makes you feel like you are sat with the young anne, listening to her tell you her story herself! its immense and well worth the buy 🙂

  4. This book has been stolen twice from my classroom library- two hardcover copies gone in 3 months. I guess my students really like it!

  5. This book is actually really boring…not as good as it sounds. Once you actually sit down and take the time to read it and to top it all off its not that amazing.

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