Corpse robbery

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Corpse robbery

Leichenraub ( The Bone Garden ) is a historical novel by the American writer Tess Gerritsen , published in Germany in 2008 .

The original artwork dates from 2007 and was translated by Andreas Jäger. The medical thriller links two time levels, with the historical events in Boston in the early 19th century in the foreground and accompanied by a framework plot in the present. At the beginning of the story, the pathologist from the Isles & Rizzoli series, Dr. Maura Isles appears as a minor character.

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Divorced teacher Julia Hamill discovers a human skeleton while gardening on the property of her recently acquired Massachusetts home . Forensic examinations reveal that they are the bones of a young woman who lived more than 150 years ago and was most likely murdered. Via the aged cousin of the late previous owner of the house and family chronicler Henry Page, Julia learns of the existence of old letters that could provide information about the woman's fate. Together with Henry and his great-nephew Tom, Julia uncovered a series of murders that took place in Boston in 1830.

Irish immigrant Rose Connolly sees her sister Aurnia die of puerperal fever in hospital shortly after giving birth . It soon seems that some people are interested in the newborn child named Margaret. To protect her little niece, the 17-year-old hides in the slums of the wintry city. With her meager earnings as a seamstress, she pays a wet nurse for Meggie . At the same time, Norris Marshall is studying at Boston Medical College. Instead of spending the evenings with his fellow students, the farmer's son Norris helps the corpse thief with nightly grave desecrations to finance his studies.

When two midwives are cruelly murdered, the paths of both protagonists cross. Norris had been in the immediate vicinity of both crime scenes and described the perpetrator as a figure with a black cape and skull. Without an influential family and very familiar with the butcher's trade from earlier years, Norris is the main suspect for the simple-minded Night Watch Pratt. In order to prove his innocence, he goes in search of Rose, who had also seen the murderer and characterized him in a similar way. The hunted, who come from poor backgrounds, develop mutual sympathy in their threatening situation. While Rose is convinced that the West End Reaper is following her, Norris must fear that he will be judged by those around him.

Norris' special talent is Dr. Aldous Grenville, Dean of the Medical School, did not go unnoticed. He makes sure that Norris can stay at college despite public pressure. In contrast to Grenville's nephew Charles, Norris, as an autodidact in dealing with human bodies, has exceptional abilities that give him access to higher social circles at receptions in Grenville's stately home. One of the few fellow students who Norris can fully trust is, in addition to Charles, Harvard graduate Oliver Wendell Holmes . With the help of Wendell, Rose and Norris uncover a family secret that puts both in extreme danger.

worldview

The novel focuses on a series of murders, triggered by personal motives of the perpetrator such as pathological love and jealousy. With the detailed description of the living conditions before the beginning of the industrial age , the author gives a nuanced insight into the social history of the United States. Outdated social conventions and role models as well as underdeveloped medical care create an additional arc of tension. Pathogens causing infections were unknown. Ignaz Semmelweis and Oliver Wendell Holmes initiated a rethink in the middle of the 19th century. Scientific studies have shown a connection between the epidemic puerperal fever and poor hygiene on the part of the treating physicians when changing between the autopsy room and maternity ward .

The German title of the novel refers to another problem: the universities were dependent on visual material for practical instruction. To meet the growing need for human bodies, an illegal business developed. Corpse robbers stole the recently deceased from morgues or cemeteries. Since this type of procurement became unprofitable and also dangerous over time, the criminal traders did not shy away from murder in individual cases.

In addition to Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Lloyd Garrison , writer and campaigner for the abolition of slavery, fills another fictional role in the novel.

literature