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Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood is sent to examine the crucified body of a man in Cripplegate Churchyard. The body is intact, except for the teeth and tongue, which have been removed. The death isn't so strange, nor is the fact that the teeth are missing. Four bodies have been removed from the churchyard in just two weeks, so why has this one, that of a strong young man, been left hanging on a tree? Next, Hawkwood goes to Bethlem Hospital, Moorfields. Bedlam, as it is more commonly known, houses the unfortunates that have been deemed too mad to remain in society. The building is almost in as bad shape as the inmates, some of whom are chained to sit in their own filth. He is taken to a set of rooms that are somewhat nicer than the rest of the accommodations. The inmate has small library of medical texts and several exquisitely limned drawings of human anatomy. There is also a horribly disfigured body in the bed. It is thought that the parson, who visited the inmate the night before, murdered the madman. Hawkwood, an ex-army officer and veteran of the Peninsular Wars, is horrified at what he sees. He has a long talk with the apothecary, who is the only official on the premises. The doctors who had been assigned to Bedlam rarely turn up. The hospital was built on marshy land over 100 years before, and is crumbling. The apothecary keeps apologizing for the state of the building and the state of the inmates. He does the best he can and the new building has been designed, but has not been built yet. (The new building was opened in 1815. It is now the site of the Imperial War Museum). The tale of the madman and the parson is just a framework for the author to outline the state of medical knowledge and teaching in the early 19th century in England. Bodies are routinely stolen and sold to medical schools because that is the only way anatomy can be taught. The law didn't change until 1832, after which it was legal to dissect human specimens. Burke and Hare, who worked in Edinburgh in 1827 were the best known of the resurrectionists, as these tomb robbers were called, but in all parts of England, and for many years before the famous pair worked, bodies were stolen from graves, and working class people were killed so fresh bodies could be supplied to the schools. The best historical novels want to make me read more about the period and the location. So it was with RESURRECTIONIST. And by the way, James Burke was hanged for his crimes. He was flayed and his skin used to make small, decorative items, such as a book cover and a wallet. The wallet turned up on the UK Antiques Roadshow recently.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, March 2007
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