Really enjoyed this fast paced gothic horror. I haven’t read much historical fiction but I found this a great intro to the genre!

Not the first time this device has been used to create a story within the world of an existing classic horror character, but I find this worked rather well in the case of “Our Hideous Progeny”

The characters were well fleshed out of you forgive the unintended pun, I found Mary abrasive and impulsive, but infinitely more human and relatable because of those flaw being so exposed. The relationship between Mary and Maisie was subtle and nuanced. The Anglo Indian couple were my favourite additions but the menfolk otherwise involved were vile to varying degrees both in attitude and behaviour. The resolution was very satisfying.

Gothic and scientific, fantastical and real,this was a story with depth and gravitas. The author is young, but you would never guess from the level of detail in the prose.

Very good

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me a copy in exchange for a review.

I am a massive fan of Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, so I jumped at the chance to read what has been described as the long awaited sequel. However, I found it to be incredibly slow, and I just didn't have it in me to care for much of the book. Once the plan was set up for Mary and Henry to bring to life a certain creature, in a certain part of Scotland I saw the plot unfolding before me as a very predictable thing.

I will say that the writing style was gorgeous but I wanted it to be scarier, more queer than advertised, and less predictable.

A gothic feminist spin-off of Frankenstein. An interesting take on Shelley's story with a classic style of writing, but fairly predictable and about 100 pages too long.

This wasn't a book that grabbed me from the start, it was definitely a 'slow-burner'. I found myself skimming over sections and my reading didn't really do the book justice.

This was a slow start for me but I kept with it and I'm so glad I did. It's a gothic story about women's fights to be seen and heard, in a world where women are deigned to be worth less than men. Really enjoyable.

The story centres around Mary, great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. Set in the 1850s, Mary is married to Henry after a previous dalliance with a woman ended in a row. She has discovered Frankenstein's work, and embarks on her own experiments to create life, which her husband assists with.

This is the hideous progeny of the title in this feminist, gothic, queer spin off from Frankenstein.

I confess that I knew very little about Victor Frankenstein, other than the Hollywood and Halloween stereo-types of his monster. But as I love a gothic Victorian novel with feisty women at their heart, I was keen to read Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill. I wasn’t disappointed. I felt all the usual frustration and anger at the way women were treated, with the inheritance laws and a need to marry for any sort of security. But alongside this, to understand the particular challenges for women in science was so interesting. I absolutely love this period of history, where so much was possible (for men) and I respect authors who try to explore the role of women in the many breakthroughs and inventions. I intrigued by Mary’s attempt to repeat her infamous uncle’s work, and the author’s imagination and creativity. I definitely recommend the book - which is an excellent first novel.

Frankenstein is a bold and general idea made - for want of a better word - flesh. Like his monster-mate Dracula, the idea behind Frankenstein's creation (man making life with all the ethical issues that this creates) is strong but generic, the specifics of Mary Shelley's gothic treatment of it is specific and hangs over the creation. Both in its original novel and as it has been warped by more lurid adaptations. McGill is chasing that gothic specificity here with a feminist twist, her lead is Frankenstein's niece, who slowly gets drawn into repeating certain experiments whilst railing against the Victorian scientific establishment. As it moves from London to the Highlands of Scotland it embraces that Gothic, whilst never having its protagonist as a victim.

None of this is particularly hidden, and its roots and homage McGill is very upfront about. Its almost like a headcanon fanfic has gone wild and taken on a life of its own, very apt for a take on this creature - and she says as much in her afterword which makes the length (if interesting) first act of the book about paleontology pay off. The thing McGill captures, beyond the gothic, is both the excitement and savage competition of being on the cutting edge of science. As a woman our lead doesn't even have a voice, and when she can speak through her husband he is not as bright and himself tied into patriarchal rules and bonds. The inspiration for the book is the Crystal Palace dinosaurs after all - that wonderful monument to the most important parts of science - being a bit wrong. But imagine being right but not having a voice?

This is all rollicking good fun, and whilst it is dripping with pastiche, homage and genre tropes, it is giddy enough about its excellent central mash-up that the fact the character journey is really well done comes as a bit of a bonus. And whilst she doesn't quite to get play with the more gnarly ethical problems Shelley flirts with, her lead is much more dynamic and her creature are real humdinger until you hit a hinted at final gag that wraps it up in a very satisfying way. Unless that is just my headcanon - maybe I'll write a book.

When I first heard about Our Hideous Progeny, the premise instantly appealed to me. The primary element that drew me to the book was the exploration of science and women in science, which ended up being one my favourite parts of the book. However, we are introduced to other women in science during this time and I would have enjoyed further development on them to add more to this discourse. There were many intriguing themes explored that I also enjoyed and worked together to make for a stimulating read, such as ambition, various types of love, complex relationships, grief, knowledge, morality and ethics.

Although I enjoyed this book, for the length, the pacing did skew slow (even though I understand why this was done, but it didn’t quite work for me). I also struggled to engage with Mary; despite feeling for her, I constantly wanted to gain more intimate knowledge about her to connect with her. I was also expecting more interaction between the ‘creature’ and Mary, and in this respect, the payoff didn’t quite meet my expectation.

Overall, this was a compelling story and I look forward to the author’s next novel. Because of a few similarities, Our Hideous Progeny might also appeal to fans of The Essex Serpent.

May 16, 2023
Our Hideous Progeny tells the tale of a woman who is, quite frankly, trapped in a society that thinks she is "less than" simply due to the fact that she was born a woman. Worth less than a man, less intelligent than a man, less worthy of scientific acclaim than a man. Less monstrous than a man. Less angry than a man. None of these things are true and she disproves them one by one.

While the story takes some time getting into the whole "Frankenstein" aspect of the book, that time is well spent setting the stage for the fascinating tale to follow. We see how, despite being the mind more or less behind her husband Henry's scientific discoveries, Mary is only ever credited with "And many thanks to M Sutherland for the illustrations." We see how the people who should be her scientific peers look down on her for her gender. We also slowly learn of Mary's discovery of her great uncle, Victor Frankenstein, the Creature he created, and the story of that creation left behind in letters.

Mary's journey to creating her own Creature is fascinating and deeply frustrating, both for Mary herself and for the reader. Over and over she runs into the hurdle of needing a man for something, usually simply due to the fact that women are not allowed in many of the circles she needs to be in to continue her work. Due to the society she lives in, this is not simply a hurdle she can overcome, she must work with Henry and the loathsome Mr. Clarke to bring her discovery to life.

I thought the story was very well written and engaging as well as surprisingly touching at points, especially for a story with as much gore as this one has. Mary's relationship with Maisie is sweet and very natural feeling and her moments of introspection over the loss of her child a year prior are deeply touching. C.E. McGill uses very poignant and eloquent language in a way that feels smooth and nicely poetic to describe a rather gruesome thing: the creation of a Creature, stitched together from the sum of the parts of others.

Our Hideous Progeny is definitely worth a read if you like gothic horror about angry women fighting for their place in society and finding love and solace in an unexpected place. 4.5/5 Stars

This story started off slow and meandering in an atmospheric fashion. I felt for Mary being a woman in the times of women being nobodies out in the real world.
As Mary started working with her uncle's notes, the story ramped up and was very gripping.

This was a slow burner of a read for me! It took a while to get into the flow of things, but the gothic vibes were strong from the start!

And once I learned about the characters the more I seemed to connect with the story. The female characters are at the heart of this story, the male characters will drive you insane!, and that's where I found the strength, along with the links to Frankenstein and watching how women had to push to get themselves noticed or taken seriously at the time.

Mary Frankenstein is the great niece of Victor, who has been missing for a number of years, and she's married to Henry who shares her love of science, and keeps his love of gambling secret from her! They struggle to find a way through in the scientific world until they discover old papers from her great uncle and it unlocks a new avenue for them to experiment with.

It was fascinating to see the moral struggle she had at times, along with just wanting recognition for her work and looking back into her past we see how she struggled with rejection and how she tried to overcome it. I would have loved to read more about the creature and her work on this project as the story seemed to spend more time looking back rather than centred around this groundbreaking path they set out on.

But the struggles she faced as a woman, both personally and professionally were brilliantly explored and a real insight to her as a female of the time and really kept the story bubbling along.

This book surpassed all my expectations and was a fantastic read. Mary Frankenstein was an absolutely epic character who I was cheering for the whole time. Set between 1853 and 1856 it recounts the story of Mary who after discovering her great-uncles' history, sets out to dazzle the scientific community. But on this journey, Mary will meet misogyny and disapproval. And she'll also fall in love and learn life lessons about what really matters. Suspend disbelief as you delve into Mary's world, it's a fantastic one.

An absolutely fabulous feminist spin-off of Frankenstein. I love how well the author portrays the awful awful ways women were treated in the 1850s, especially women who pursue ambition and intellect.

The story respects the history of the Victorian era but holds up well for the modern era. I wouldn't always read this genre or type of story but it was absolutely fabulous. I would reccomend to anyone even those who aren't sure if they'd enjoy it.

After studying a unit on Gothic literature at uni, it quickly became my favourite genre, with Frankenstein being one of my all time favourite novels. Even more than the novel itself, I loved the story of Mary Shelley and how she became the mother of science fiction at such a young age. As soon as I saw this book I was drawn in by it - the gorgeous cover, the intriguing title and the story incorporating many of my favourite things.

I was not disappointed. All of my favourite gothic elements were there, with just enough tipping of the hat to the original story of Frankenstein, but told as a true story and giving rise to this original tale. I loved the fact that the story of the creation of the creature is turned on its head by the simple fact that it was created by a woman, a woman who originally didn't want to be a mother as she was worried about her lack of ability to nurture, but who saw past the outwardly repulsive appearance of the creature to find the good within it, and the true strength within herself.

The book brings to the forefront the difficulties that women have faced being taken seriously as academics and scientists, and makes me truly grateful to all the incredible women who fought to forge a path for the rest of us to follow. They definitely deserve to be remembered and recognised, and works of fiction such as this brings the names of the trailblazers into public consciousness.

If you’re looking for a Gothic Victorian novel with nod to Frankenstein, then this is the book for you. Mary is the great niece of Victor Frankenstein and married to Henry – who is not quite the man she believes him to be. In a time of scientific discovery, and the Great Exhibition Mary and Henry seek to make a name for themselves in the scientific world after she discovers papers left by her great uncle. A slow burn that just builds and builds to its climax I just couldn’t put this book down. A strong and intelligent woman, Mary struggles against the oppression put upon her by the men in the scientific circles into which she wishes to be admitted. A book of love and loss, loneliness and friendship, but above all Mary shines out as a woman who is prepared to stand her ground against all odds. Many thanks to NetGalley. and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

Thank you to Doubleday books via Netgalley for my ebook copy of this intriguing book!

The cover is gorgeous, just like the premise and as a fan of Frankenstein I really enjoyed this!

Mary, who grew up with her grandmother, discovers that her great uncle was Victor Frankenstein, the doctor that left his diary behind. She marries Henry, a struggling scientist, who relies on criticising other scientists in his lectures, for any recognition of his own. When Henry's father dies, Mary finally meets his sister Maisie and they have the means to start experimenting to make their own "hideous progeny".

This novel had a slow start. Characters were introduced, cause given, settings described but after the first half, the second picks up pace and I found myself racing to the end. Mary is an interesting character. A little bit like Elizabeth Zott in Lessons in Chemistry, she is fighting against the established scientific study in Victorian England this time. For all the work that she has done, she finds she will not be mentioned and through her loss she is made to feel weaker.

I loved the quotes from Frankenstein itself as well as the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley which added to each chapter. I really liked Mary and her fight for scientific equality. Her love for her 'progeny' is beautiful too and again explores that idea of creating something, becoming like god, but with different regrets to Frankenstein.

I'd recommend this to anyone that loves the familiar tale of Frankenstein and a feminist historical fiction ♥️

One of the great things about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is it is succinct and to the point. It's so confident in its narrative and message that it doesn't try and beat you over the head with it. CE McGill's attempt to give the classic a feminist twist is a wonderful idea and I love the LGBTQ+ addition. It could have been great but Our Hideous Progeny isn't quite what I hoped for. For one thing, it's long. I know 400 pages isn't actually long in the grand scheme of things but it's longer than it should be. Longer than the premise needs certainly.

There are a lot of plot threads and I don't think all of them were strictly necessary. The story revolves around Victor Frankenstein's great-niece, Mary. Mary shares her great-uncle's passion for science and is a keen palaeontologist. She and her husband scrape a living out of his academic writing and her accompanying illustrations. At least until Mary comes across Captain Walton's account of Frankenstein's life. She begins to wonder about the secret that brought life to his creation. It seems like a good way to secure their fortune and their position in the scientific community. Can the pair continue Victor's work and create a new creature?

There were plenty of themes in this book that I found really interesting. The aspect of the story based around women in the scientific world was great but could have been explored more. Especially the contest between Mary and her husband. When they have their great idea, it is clear that Mary won't get any recognition but her husband will be celebrated. I just wish there had been more time given over to this plot strand. We briefly meet other women in these circles but never really delve deeper into their experiences. Likewise, I think the LGBTQ+ elements were underdeveloped. It just seemed like something of an afterthought. There was little development in the queer aspect of the novel and I was kind of disappointed. Especially as it was meant to be such a big deal.

On paper, this sounded like a really good book and one that I was excited to read. In the end, I was bored. It was a massive struggle to finish it because the pacing was so slow. It's not even as if there was any great development slowing it down. It was just unnecessarily detailed. There was so much repetition and the story was just dragged out for as long as possible. In all honesty, I don't know what the Frankenstein link actually did here other than allow the book to trade off its name. I don't think McGill did much with the story except to repeat it in excruciating detail. This element just made the narrative unnecessarily slow. I think it would have been stronger if Mary had just been an ordinary palaeontologist trying to make a name for herself. At least then we could have skipped the incredibly long and tedious "chase" sequence towards the end of the book.

Overall, this book just didn't work for me. I never felt engaged with the characters or the concept. It was all talk but, ultimately, I don't think it really delivered on its promises. Strictly speaking, it was a feminist and queer retelling of Mary Shelley's book. However, neither of those aspects felt particularly developed. They were barely explored. As for character development? I didn't feel as though I knew Mary any better at the end than I did at the beginning. As a lover of Shelley's original novel, reading this didn't give me a new perspective on the classic. It just made me wish I was reading that again.

I enjoyed this dark, gothic tale and how the tale of Frankenstein was woven into the story. It had the feminist touches that I expected and Mary was certainly a women who wasn't afraid to speak her mind.

My only criticism was that the author was almost too descriptive and I sometimes found my attention waiver. I felt that the book could have been 100 pages shorter and just as enjoyable.