12 must-read September YA releases to pair with your PSL
By Lacy Baugher
September 2021 release: The Corpse Queen – Heather Herrman
Heather Herrman’s The Corpse Queen deals with the sort of subject matter that some may think fantastical, but grave robbing was actually quite prevalent in the nineteenth century, believe it or not. Often the bodies that were stolen were then sold to medical schools or hospitals – after all, doctors had to learn how the mechanics of surgery worked somehow – but that fact makes the crime any less macabre or, quite frankly, gross.
In this dark and twisty feminist historical thriller, a teenage girl starts a new life as a grave robber but quickly becomes entangled in a murderer’s plans. The story follows Molly Green, a seventeen-year-old orphan who is sent away to live with a mysterious aunt she never knew, a woman who has built an empire of robbing graves and making a profit off the stolen bodies – and wants her new niece to help her procure the corpses.
Molly’s education in anatomy is eye-opening in more ways than one, and she begins to wonder whether she could somehow forge a future for herself in the world of medicine. But with a dangerous murderer loose on the streets of Philadelphia, it might be a bad time to be in the business of death.
The official synopsis has a lot more details about the story.
"Soon after her best friend Kitty mysteriously dies, orphaned seventeen-year-old Molly Green is sent away to live with her “aunt.” With no relations that she knows of, Molly assumes she has been sold as free domestic labor for the price of an extra donation in the church orphanage’s coffers. Such a thing is not unheard of. There are only so many options for an unmarried girl in 1850s Philadelphia. Only, when Molly arrives, she discovers her aunt is very much real, exceedingly wealthy, and with secrets of her own. Secrets and wealth she intends to share–for a price. Molly’s estranged aunt Ava, has built her empire by robbing graves and selling the corpses to medical students who need bodies to practice surgical procedures. And she wants Molly to help her procure the corpses. As Molly learns her aunt’s trade in the dead of night and explores the mansion by day, she is both horrified and deeply intrigued by the anatomy lessons held at the old church on her aunt’s property. Enigmatic Doctor LaSalle’s lessons are a heady mixture of knowledge and power and Molly has never wanted anything more than to join his male-only group of students. But the cost of inclusion is steep and with a murderer loose in the city, the pursuit of power and opportunity becomes a deadly dance."
The Corpse Queen is available on September 14