A review of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's "The Daughter of Doctor Moreau"

One of my favorite genres to read is the updated, canon tale told from a new perspective. I remember reading Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea in college, and it was one of the few titles I returned to later in life. For those that don’t know, that novel tells the backstory of Edward’s first wife in Jane Eyre: what drove her to madness and why he keeps her locked away. I recommend it for fans of the original story.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's The Daughter of Doctor Moreau gives a similar treatment to the classic by H.G. Wells. Moreno-Garcia resets the story in the lush Yucatan, and the hybrid human/animals have their sources in the creatures that stalk those forests, and Merida is the nearest city where one might find civilization. It is told in a close third-person perspective, alternating between Montgomery, the caretaker, and Carlota, the doctor’s “natural daughter.” The plot revolves around Moreau attempting to secure funding to continue his experiments by securing a marriage between Carlota and the son of his landlord and patron. However, all does not go to plan, putting the survival of the hybrids and others at risk.

I enjoyed this retelling a great deal, particularly since I have visited the part of the world where it is set and walked the streets of Merida. The details of the setting were vibrant and realistic. The nods were there to Wells, but Moreno-Garcia made the story entirely her own. The themes of identity, trust, and paternity run throughout. Who is really your family? How are those bonds forged? To whom do you owe allegiance? Carlota has to face all these questions as she matures and learns who she really is.

This is the first book of Moreno-Garcia's I have read, and I can’t wait to go back and read her other titles when I have the chance. I would recommend this to fans of H.G. Wells, fans of historical fiction, and anyone who likes a little macabre and creepiness in their sort-of-romantic (but not the whole book) fiction.

I received this title as an ARC from NetGalley.

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