The story of how Dr. Jekyll's strange experiments affected his household, told in the journals of a maid who considered him her protector. Mary is a very sympathetic narrator, and I wished I could share her hope that everything would eventually be right with her Master.
October 2013 ( )

I really enjoyed this. It's been a while since I read Jekyll and Hyde but I recalled enough that I recognised the flow of the tale. I'm often ambivalent about retellings of a story (way too may times where it feels as though an author is taking the mickey) but this one did work.

I can't deny that it's a short enough story (around 250 pages) but that made it perfect for a light read. ( )

Loved this! 4.5 ( )

This is a wonderful illumination of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, told from the perspective of the housemaid. Valerie Martin somehow inhabits the original at the same time she makes it new, and the result is a fresh gothic tale that's steeped in the original horror. Martin is an incredibly sure-handed writer, and her prose sings. ( )

Take-off on Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, from the point of view of the servant girl who tended fires and was abused by her father, himself a monster. Interesting twist on morality and evil, and how evil is only the potential of redemption, though never forgiveness from its victims. ( )