Author: Dana Schwartz
Genre: Historical Fiction / Gothic Romance / Young Adult
Ideal For: Readers who crave atmospheric settings, brave heroines, curious science, and an elegant blend of mystery and ambition. Perfect for fans of The Anatomy Lesson-style thrills, daring women in history, and romances that aren’t just about couples—but about calling and defiance.
Plot Summary (Spoiler-free)
From the very first pages of Anatomy: A Love Story, Dana Schwartz transports us to Edinburgh in 1817: a city of cobbled lanes, leaping ambition, rigid gender expectations—and graveyards ripe for digging. Hazel Sinnett is the kind of lady society expects to marry — but she wants much more: to become a surgeon. Meanwhile Jack Currer is a “resurrection man” who steals corpses to sell for anatomy lectures. Their paths intersect, they uncover a plague (“Roman Fever”), missing bodies, a world of injustice, sex & science. It’s morbid, it’s thrilling, it’s layered.
Schwartz’s Craft: Dark, Ambitious & Defiantly Alive
Schwartz writes with the precision of a scalp-steel and the sweeping drama of a Gothic novel. The setting—Edinburgh’s anatomical schools, the cemeteries, the exploitation of the poor for bodies—feels alive.
Hazel is no damsel. Her ambition, blond curls, and disdain for corsets make her unforgettable. Jack’s desperation and moral complexity give him weight. Together, they navigate not only bodies to dissect but secrets society buries.
Themes That Resound
Ambition vs expectation. Hazel fights for her right to cut flesh, to heal, to learn—against patriarchy and death alike.
Class & mortality. The bodies Jack handles are un-loved, un-entered. Schwartz reminds us that exploring human anatomy once depended on those ignored by society.
Identity & risk. Hazards of gender, of service, of secrecy. Hazel’s lab coat is both uniform and armour.
Love with edge. The romance is real—but not soft. It grows through blood-blood, body-parts, danger and shared defiance.
Science as rebellion. Becoming a doctor in 1817 Edinburgh is treason to every “proper” expectation. The book celebrates knowledge and the audacity to seek it.
What Works Exceptionally Well
Setting that thrills. Graveyards, anatomist theatres, plague-scarred streets—Schwartz doesn’t flinch.
Characters that stay with you. Hazel is resolute; Jack is complicated. Their arcs feel earned.
Plot with surprise. What begins as gender-barrier drama becomes a mystery of bodies, disease and moral rot.
Voice that balances grit and elegance. The prose carries the era’s weight but never struggles to speak to modern readers.
Blend of romance and ambition. The love story exists—but Hazel’s love of surgery drives her, not as shadow to her feelings.
A Tiny Caveat
Some readers mentioned that the romance felt undertreated or the ending left threads without full tie-up. But personally, I believe the book’s strength lies between the dissections, the doubts and the bold steps—not just in a neat wrap-up.
Also, the genre-blend (historical fiction + gothic + romance) means if you’re strictly after one tone, this might feel broad. But for anyone open to mixing, that breadth is a feature not a bug.
Why You’ll Remember This One
When you’re done, you won’t just recall the cemetery gates or the anatomical theatre. You’ll remember Hazel’s steady heartbeat as she lifts the scalpel, you’ll remember Jack’s haunted eyes by moon-lit graves, you’ll remember that moment when the “respectable” world trembles under bodies it doesn’t see. And you’ll think: This woman fought to know the body so she could heal the world.
You’ll recommend to a friend: “Read this if you want ambition and blood, knowledge and romance.” And you’ll carry the line:
“I’m not a fool… no matter how you might think of me.” (Hazel, to Jack)
Anatomy: A Love Story earns its five stars because it refuses to be small. It is dark but hopeful, bloody but beautiful, ambitious but tender. Dana Schwartz has crafted a novel that cuts into history, pulls out the pulse of ambition, and stitches it into something unforgettable. If you’re ready for a book that flirts with the macabre and blooms with heart—pick this one.
