‘The Small Museum’ by Jody Cooksley

Published by Allison & Busby,
23 May 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-74902-315-2 (HB)

This story was inspired by the extraordinary cabinet of curiosities in the Hunterian Museum in London.  It is a Victorian melodrama with overtones of Blue Beard and Gothic horror.  It is set in the late Victorian period when medical experimentation was at its height and continues to fascinate readers today. 

The main character is Madeleine Brewster who marries a Dr Lucius Everley at the beginning of the story.  She is a rather innocent young girl who is strongly encouraged to marry the doctor as a means of improving her family's standing in the community.  There are strong hints of malign intent from the very beginning and the house she is meant to be the mistress of is run by an unpleasant couple Mr and Mrs Barker who do not allow Madeleine any control over her life in this oppressive house.  She is very lonely, and her only friendship is with Caroline the wife of another doctor and her maid, Tizzy. 

Madeleine is curious about her husband's work as a collector of natural curiosities and tries to help him by offering her services as an accomplished artist.  As she learns more about his small museum of bones and specimens in jars, she becomes increasingly worried about the true origins of these items.  Madeleine becomes pregnant and is hopeful that perhaps at last she and Lucius can form a proper family.  However, her fears increase as her maid is removed and her sister-in-law becomes ever more unpleasant.  Her baby is apparently still born although Madeleine knows she has been drugged and has no memory of the birth.  She is not allowed to see her baby. 

We are then transported to the Marlborough Assizes where Madeleine is on trial for her life having been accused of murdering her baby.  This is a truly frightening account of what it must have been like for Victorian prisoners in gaol at that time.  Her friend Caroline is determined to help her’

This is a dark tale, with a Gothic setting. An exhilarating read - I loved it - and can thoroughly recommend it to any readers who enjoy the thrill of a drama set in Victorian England and with an immense amount of research into the age of discoveries of fossils and bones which of course continues to this day. 
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Reviewer:  Toni Russell

Jody Cooksley studied literature at Oxford Brookes University and has a Masters in Victorian Poetry. Her debut novel The Glass House is a fictional account of the life of nineteenth-century photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron. The Small Museum, Jody’s third novel, won the 2023 Caledonia Novel Award. Jody is originally from Norwich and now lives in Cranleigh.

https://jrcbooks.co.uk/  

 

Toni Russell is a retired teacher who has lived in London all her life and loves the city.  She says, ‘I enjoy museums, galleries and the theatre but probably my favourite pastime is reading.  I found myself reading detective fiction almost for the first time during lockdown and have particularly enjoyed old fashioned detective fiction rather than the nordic noir variety.  I am a member of a book club at the local library and have previously attended literature classes at our local Adult Education Centre.  I am married with three children and five grandchildren.