Molly Green has spent the last few years of her life living in an orphanage - it's a tough life, made harder by the fact she had to watch as her parents rode away and left her behind. The only real light in her life is her friendship with Kitty, a beautiful girl with a secret that only Molly and one other knows. When Kitty is found dead, drowned in the river, Molly is convinced it is murder - not a popular view with the nuns who run the orphanage. As a punishment for her willfulness and stubborn refusal to accept that Kitty committed suicide the nuns turn Molly out, a few weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday. Mother Superior takes great delight in sharing the news, the only softening of the blow is the news that her 'aunt' has claimed her and offered her a place in her household.
Molly is convinced it is a trick, that the orphanage has sold her off as a maid, so she is genuinely shocked to discover that Ava really is her aunt. Records and documents can be faked, but Ava's uncanny resemblance to Molly's mother can't be faked. Ava offers Molly a place in her household, the promise of a bright future in polite society. After growing up so poor, and expecting nothing in life, Ava's promise of a future where she will want for nothing is very tempting indeed - but there is a price to pay. Ava is well known and respected in polite society, but to another kind of society she is known as the Corpse Queen. Ava and her workers collect bodies and other specimens for medical students and collectors - an illegal and lucrative practice.
Determined to find Kitty's killer, Molly is drawn to the medical students who flock around the doctor that Ava works with. She knows that one of them was involved with Kitty, and watching them makes it clear that they are arrogant and spoiled - given so much when she has so little. As Molly is drawn deeper into Ava's world she discovers a burning desire she never knew she had - the desire to become a doctor herself. It's a dangerous time to be a woman working the streets, albeit it in a capacity other than the usual occupation of a woman working at night, because there is a killer hunting and killing women. Molly has been drawn into a dangerous where no one is what they seem, and everything is covered by a thin veneer of polite society. Will Molly uncover the truth of what being the Corpse Queen truly means before it's too late?
The Corpse Queen is a well written and addictive read that keeps you hooked from the very start. Molly's world is rendered in clear (but not exhaustive) detail, and brings to life the stark contrast between the lives of freedom so many of us live now, and what it was like to be a woman coming of age in a world controlled by men. Molly is brave, determined, but also flawed - as are the people who orbit her world. There is a mystery and sense of danger that hunts her as the story unfolds, as well as true friends and strange new enemies. This could be a standalone novel as it is very complete in itself - but there is a sense that there could be a sequel as well. Another brilliant historical novel for teenagers and adult readers alike.
If you like this book then try:
- A court of thorns and roses by Sarah J. Maas
- Throne of glass by Sarah J. Maas
- The glass spare by Lauren DeStefano
- The girl of fire and thorns by Rae Carson
- Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst
- Not even bones by Rebecca Schaeffer
- The witch haven by Sasha Peyton Smith
- Forest of a thousand lanterns by Julie C. Dao
- Walk on Earth a stranger by Rae Carson
- Court of fives by Kate Elliott
- Girls of paper and fire by Natasha Ngan
- Warrior of the wild by Tricia Levenseller
Reviewed by Brilla
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