Anne "wakes" up unable to move, unable to speak, in total darkness - after searching her thoughts to try to remember where she is or what has happened, her last thoughts come to her... those of being hanged. With that thought, she is terrified that she has either been buried alive or is in purgatory. Her story unfolds with her recounting the events that lead up to the moment of her "death", taking the audience through the tragic moments that led to her wrongful conviction of infanticide. Simulataneously we get the thoughts of a young medical student present to watch her dissection for a group of doctors and scholars. As a convicted murderer, her body has been sold to the university for study as the practice of human dissection was becoming more commonly practiced for study of anatomy, although as the book clearly shows, it is not a popular practice among some groups.
As the dissection is about to begin he notices movement in Anne's eyes and the group begins to try various things to get her to exhibit signs of life. In the end a feather inserted in her throat produces a response and the doctors set about attempting to bring her back to life, a medical miracle of her time.
I will admit when the book arrived in one of my latest box of preview materials for the county review center, my inner teen took over and the eerie cover drew my eye so it rose to the top of my reading pile. This was truly fascinating! I love this time period, and the idea itself was fascinating, girl alone in dark - unable to move or speak, unsure of where she is, her last memory of being hanged. Seeing that the book is a fictionalization of real historical events is just icing on the literary cake. :) I had a hard time putting this book down, and as it is, finished it in two sittings. Its engrossing YA lit with a historical basis, a little science, a little love story, a lot of drama and... is this the first character I can think of in recent memory that I can empathize with despite the fact that she mostly dead?
