Emma Glass’ feminist reworking of Stevenson’s Victorian classic, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a visceral, unsettling and, at times, devastating account of a young woman’s battle with cancer. It is also a taut and highly imaginative example of the contemporary retelling genre that has recently become so popular.
Although, retellings of nineteenth century texts are certainly not a new idea (Jean Rhys’ 1966 post-colonial reworking of Jane Eyre in the form of Wide Sargasso Sea and Jean Winterson’s 2019 Frankisstein, spring to mind), Mrs. Jekyll bucks the trend of the recent spate of classical myth retellings and, therefore, it brings with it something new. Feminist retellings certainly don’t shy away from the violence inflicted upon women’s bodies, often by men, in order to bring the female historical experience into sharper view. Glass takes this form of physical horror and, with the help of Stevenson’s thematic consideration of the splintering and doubling of an identity, she transforms this horror into the violence that a body can wreak upon itself.
In Mrs. Jekyll, the reader follows the story of Rosy Winter, a kind and dedicated schoolteacher who is suffering from terminal breast cancer. She is cared for by her devastated and devoted husband who, she notes, has become all too conscious of her condition and treats her with kid gloves. His caring overreach is balanced well by the irritating and inconsiderate comments of his sister and this provides a rounded picture of a family struggling to accommodate the existence of Rosy’s disease.
As the cancer inside her grows, it begins to take on a character of its own and Rosy’s identity becomes somehow doubled with the hideous identity of her tumour. The embodiment of her anger at the injustice of what is happening to her, her cancerous growth bludgeons its way into the narrative and, by the end of this short novel, Rosy becomes an uncanny and disquieting version of her former self. This unsettling fall is mirrored by Glass’ experimental narrative that switches between prose and free verse in a way that really highlights the dual identity of Rosy.
Glass’ experience as a nurse allows for her to present the horrors of illness and the effects upon its victims in an understanding, yet graphic and emotionally demanding piece of literary fiction. Her reworking of Jekyll and Hyde is challenging, shocking and bleak and yet it is also a highly original work that is bound to leave its readers changed by the time they turn the final page.
Emma Glass was born in Wales in 1987 and is now based in London, where she writes and works as a children’s nurse. Her debut novel Peach was published by Bloomsbury in 2018, has been translated into seven languages and was long-listed for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. Her second novel Rest and Be Thankful was published by Bloomsbury in 2020. Mrs Jekyll is published by Cheerio Publishing.
Mrs Jekyll was reviewed for Books Up North by Clare Almond
Clare is a bookseller with a keen interest in literary fiction. After ten years of academic work and teaching, she stepped away from the books to raise a family. Along the way, she has been a G.C.S.E. English literature examiner, a parish council clerk and a school governor but now she is enjoying getting back into the habit of reading, writing and literary criticism.
In her spare time, Clare loves nothing more than a swimming lengths at her local pool. In fact, she is a keen all round sportswoman and also enjoys watching her family running about on various sports pitches. Her other interests include music and making and eating good food. She lives at the foot of the beautiful North York Moors.
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