Cadaver & Queen

Gr 9 Up—First-year med student Elizabeth Lavenza never backs down from a challenge; which is probably a good thing, given that she's the first female student admitted to Ingold Academy of Medicine and Bio-Mechanical Science. Lizzie knew it would be a difficult path, but it's only after she's made the trip from America to England that she realizes even the professors want to see her fail. So when she meets one of the mechanized cadavers created by her professors and sees an opportunity to use one of her inventions to help restore his former intelligence, she jumps at the chance to prove her worth. But along with memories of his past as top student Victor Frankenstein come terrifying revelations of his death—and the sinister plot he had uncovered. This steampunk play on Frankenstein, set in the English countryside against the backdrop of the Boer War, explores themes of belonging, sexuality, and what it means to be human. While all of the main characters are white, one of Lizzie's friends in the nursing school is Jamaican and another in the medical school has a disability. The author briefly explores the ways in which these two students, as well as Lizzie and Victor themselves, are treated as outcasts by their peers and society at large. Lizzie and Victor, through whom the story is told, are extremely likable characters, and readers will fall hard for their love story.