Poor Things Read the extraordinary book behind the award-winning film

Eine wirklich mitreisende, faszinierende und teilweise abstoßende Geschichte über eine Frau, der durch frankensteinähnliche Umstände ein neues Leben geschenkt wird. Mit unglaublich schönen Illustrationen.

The charismatic Bella Baxter makes blunt remarks and asks curious questions, which sometimes makes her seem naïve or odd. A child’s mouth speaks truth; this also applies to Bella, even though she is in her mid-twenties. She was brought to life by the eccentric scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter, from the body of a lifeless woman (that’s not the only macabre thing about her origins!) Victorian Glasgow serves as the backdrop for the novel Poor Things by Scottish author Alasdair Gray, who claims to be the editor. The alleged author of the book is Archibald McCandless. His account of the events makes up the majority of the novel, but at the end, Bella has her say. Archibald McCandless falls in love with Bella Baxter the first time he meets her, and they are engaged the second time they meet. When Godwin Baxter finds out about this, an utterly bizarre incident unfolds; and at this point (at the latest), the reader wonders how much credence to give to this text. Shortly afterwards, Bella elopes with the shady lawyer Duncan Wedderburn. The adventures that Bella subsequently experiences on a trip around the world shape her into a fervent feminist who abhors meanness, wants to help the disadvantaged and adheres to socialist ideas. „I clenched my teeth and fists to stop them biting and scratching these clever men who want no care for the helpless sick small, who use religions and politics to stay comfortably superior to all that pain […] how could I stop all this?“ Bella Baxter is a character like no other. Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer is a shocking novel, laced with black humor and brilliant conciseness. It was published in 1992 and is a feminist variation on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.