Mary and the Rabbit Dream

Noémi Kiss-Deáki

• Publisher: Coach House Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781770568365
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: English Literature
• Index: Literature

A sardonic, feminist reimagining of the story of Mary Toft, infamous rabbit-birthing hoaxer.

Mary Toft was just another eighteenth-century woman living in poverty, misery, and frequent pain. The kind of person overlooked by those with power, forgotten by historians. Mary Toft was nothing. Until, that is, Mary Toft started giving birth to rabbits…

Sensational debut novelist Noémi Kiss-Deáki reimagines Mary’s strange and fascinating story – and how she found fame when a large swath of England became convinced that she was the mother of rabbits.

Mary and the Rabbit Dream is a story of bodily autonomy, of absurdity, of the horrors inflicted on women, of the cruel realities of poverty, and the grotesque divides between rich and poor. A story told with exquisite wit, skill, and a beautiful streak of subversive mischief.

"Noémi Kiss-Deáki's style is astonishing – hypnotic, poetic, persistent, wild, blazing and marvellous. As the novel unfolds you simply can't believe what is happening – it's outrageous, it's cruel, it's unfathomable and yet – it's the way of the world. Here is Mary Toft's tale, retold in dazzling prose that is both exquisite and furious. Noémi reimagines the possibilities for historical fiction and Mary and the Rabbit Dream is utterly original and utterly brilliant." – Victoria MacKenzie, author of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

“One of those novels that seemingly arrives from nowhere, fully formed, as odd, disturbing, and lingering as the most vivid of fever dreams. To create something so playfully provocative, subversive and gripping displays a rare literary talent. I’ve never read anything like it.” – Benjamin Myers, author of The Gallows Pole

“In Mary and the Rabbit Dream, Noémi Kiss-Deáki transforms the tale of Mary Toft into a stinging, witty critique of the oppressions heaped upon the bodies of impoverished women. This is a brave debut, one told with courage and wit, one which dissects a ruthless system of class and gender – and lays bare the concentric circles of power that still govern our world.” – Selby Wynn Schwartz, author of After Sappho

“I loved Mary and the Rabbit Dream – a sprightly but savage tale that re-imagines the real-life case of Mary Toft, who, in 1726, supposedly started giving birth to rabbits … It’s a supple, smartly self-conscious and ingenious take on the historical novel.” – Lucy Scholes, editor of A Different Sound: Stories by Mid-Century Women Writers

“A tense, nightmarish book about power and incarnation. … Stylish, visceral, incandescent.” – Clare Pollard, author of Delphi

“Mary and the Rabbit Dream casts the curious early 18th century story of Mary Toft in a totally fresh light. This is a furious, vituperative story about class, poverty, violence and women's bodies.” – Stu Hennigan, author of Ghost Signs

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• 1. The Rabbit Dream
• 2. One Disappointment and One Tragedy
• 3. The Rabbit Birth
• 4. Several Letters to Several Distinguished Persons
• 5. The Dancing Master
• 6. The German Physician
• 7. Sir Richard Manningham
• 8. A Most Curious Case, Thoroughly Examined
• 9. Credo
• 10. Lepus et Lupus
• 11. The Bath House
• 12. Dead End
• 13. Investigations Initiated
• 14. A Delicate State
• 15. Extortion
• 16. A Severe Threat
• 17. Confession
• 18. The Lost Honour of Nathanael St. André, Mr. Cyriacus Ahlers, and Sir Richard Manningham
• 19. Mary’s Afterlife
• 20. The Dinner Party
• Afterword, Acknowledgements, and Karen Harvey’s The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder
• About the Author