Megan Shepherd, The Madman’s Daughter
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A headstrong young heroine guides this spirited adaptation of a horror classic
Megan Shepherd’s YA update of The Island of Dr. Moreau, the first in a trilogy of books that will take on the horror classics Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein, focuses on Juliet Moreau, the teenage daughter of H.G. Wells’s titular doctor. Orphaned in London — her mother has died and her father has vanished, tainted by scandal — Juliet, once at the foothold of society, gets by cleaning the university building where her father once taught. A tip to his whereabouts leads to a chance encounter with the family’s former servant, Montgomery. Desperate to know why her father would abandon his family and curious about his rumored practice of operating on live animals, Juliet follows Montgomery on a long trip back to the island. Along the way they rescue a shipwrecked scientist named Edward (the hero of The Island of Doctor Moreau) and a romantic triangle forms.
The island itself does prove to be inhabited by the rumored animal-man hybrids: Moreau’s explanation is that he considers himself a pioneer in “the science of manipulating living forms,” much to the horror of his daughter, who is a keen student of science. Juliet Moreau is a welcome addition to the YA canon: passionate, spirited, and a little ahead of her time.
Narrated with pluck by Lucy Rayner, The Madman’s Daughter is a smart adventure story with delectable elements: romance, thrills and sharp dialogue. It’ll leave readers excited for the next installment.
