*4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account*

"You were chosen by no one...you are no messenger of God. You have not been guided by anyone or anything other than your own greed and ambition...you are merely a man."

"Knowledge is a dangerous thing for a woman to have."

The symbolic historical fiction The Gifts by original creative author Liz Hyder seems to be magical realism until the realistic truths of a misogynistic society shows itself in the form of Edward, "a surgeon who thought he was his own god."

In 1840 a woman is seen struggling out of the woods with angel wings straining from her shoulders. Some wonder if it's just a story, others if it's a sign from the heavens but a few see opportunity. Edward sees a chance to dissect this specimen, write about it, hold lectures, and have the fame and fortune that has alluded him that he knows he rightly deserves as a man.

The thing is this woman is not the only one growing wings and when Edward believes he has the right to hold these female fantastical creatures in captivity he will find that the strength is not in their wings but in their belief in each other.

I was completely captivated by narrator Tuppence Middleton as she expressed Natalya's grief burying her stillborn child all alone, Etta losing her precious loyal dog, and Alice learning the devastating truth about Edward. Then there is Mary. Stoic, strong, brave and not afraid to ask questions and demand answers. Through their pain, grief, and struggles they persevere and have the audacity to grow wings and take flight.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Dreamscape Media via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I wasn't a fan of the way this book was written. This book tried too hard to be clever and just annoyed me and took from my enjoyment of the story. Perspectives from the different characters were introduced in the middle of paragraphs, so often lent itself to confusion, rereading of sentences and frustration

This book was actually read as a bookclub pick! There were alot of mixed reviews. Im not a big fan of historical fictions and the added fantasy aspect although seemingly a little out of place, made for a more interesting read. I wasn't a big fan of any of the Characters, they were all a bit of base. overall, this was just ok.

This was a really unique historical fiction/fantasy read that kept me entertained from start to finish and was unlike anything I'd read before. Great on audio and definitely an author I'd read more of in the future. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I thought teh five different perspectives were a little much. But I did read about these women who were subjected to the ideas of their time: women couldn't have ambition outside the home. The idea of women being used as scientific experiments is a great analogy for women being subjugated my men. I enjoyed the resolution of the tale and the explanation for the wings.

I feel like the discussion revolving around science and religion is a constant topic in our society. The Gifts explores this topic when women spontaneously grow wings from their bodies. The color of their skin and their religious beliefs are moot, what do they do now? And what does everyone they encounter do in reaction?

Of course, in our patriarchal society there’s a man waiting in the wings (pun intended) to profit from this remarkable phenomenon. This man, a religious surgeon struggling to make a name for himself, doesn’t even take into consideration that these women are humans worthy of independent thought. Not chattel. Who would think they’d like to make decisions about their newly altered physical existence?? 🙄

I really enjoyed the overall themes of this historical fiction fantasy, but the pacing is a bit slow at times. If you’re a historical fiction and fantasy fan and like character-driven novels then I’d recommend this one. Just be prepared for the slower bits.

I received an eARC and ALC of this book courtesy of @netgalley @sourcebooks and @dreamscape_media and I thought the audio version was quite good! The narrator, Tuppence Middleton, did a great job of keeping to storyline moving and engaging the listener.

What a beautiful and inspiring story told from several points of view about women that mysteriously randomly grew wings, Angels as they are referred to in the story. It took me a little bit to get the characters straight, but once I did I was able to easily follow each one’s story and was happy when they all intertwined with each other.
This story was listed as fantasy, but I would label it more of historical fiction with a twist of fantasy.

Beware there is a graphic scene of animal mutilation and animal torture that I was devasted to read and almost didn't want to read any further afterwards. If this is a trigger for you, this might not be the book for you, or at least find where this scene is located, and you could easily skip this part. Other triggers in the story include fertility issues.

This was such an interesting and beautiful story and I hope Liz Hyder writes a sequel to tell us of what happens with the characters after this story ends. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone up for a little adventure in their next read.

Thank you to Bonnier Books U.K. Audio Manilla Press for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘The Gifts’. It is narrated by Tuppence Middleton.
#TheGifts #NetGalley

I... I don't think this novel ended up as deep as it wanted to be. Certainly, the heroic era of medicine offers plenty of twisted material to be turned into a a novel, but The Gifts was not too artful about it. Yes, medical hybris is despicable! The message got across at least a dozen times, though I doubt there was an actual medical advisor checking the facts as this book was being published.

The nail in the coffin of my appreciation for the writing was hammered home by the use of "person of colour" every single time, well, a person of colour was being discussed by the Victorians in this historical novel. There are plenty of non-racist, contemporary ways to describe non-white characters in an unoffensive way, and none of those would have thrown me out of the story the way this expression did.

TW: Animal Abuse, Kidnapping/Imprisonment

A young surgeon in 1840s London stumbles across the find of a lifetime – a drowned woman who has wings growing from her back. He’s certain that this will be his opportunity to make a name for himself and guards his secret carefully. But there are rumors of other women with wings, and the surgeon finds himself obsessed with finding them, no matter the cost.

This story is told from multiple POVs (four women and one man). Each of these perspectives is enjoyable and adds to the story, but it does feel a bit overwhelming and fragmented for the first portion of the book. While this work does take a little time to become situated into, it was an enjoyable read. I’m rating it a little lower because it wasn’t until almost 65% through that I was finally able to connect to the story and characters. The author did a good job with the characterization of the narrators and secondary characters, incorporating many strong women with varied backgrounds into this read. I do think this work would have benefitted from being trimmed down and dropping one or two of the POVs.

I enjoyed how well the author incorporated magical realism with historical fiction. I wanted a little more explanation relating to the magical aspects of the read, but the author did offer enough explanation to keep me from being dissatisfied. The author also did a good job at emphasizing how intertwined science and religion was in England during this time, which was a driving force behind the antagonist of this read.

I’m glad I stuck this one out, but it certainly wasn’t the most approachable read. If you enjoy historical fiction with a touch of magical realism and don’t mind slow starts, then this is probably worth checking out. My thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

TW: animal cruelty, pregnancy losses, torture

Umm...it was interesting for awhile but then it didn't really go anywhere? There was no explanation, it just ended...is it even worth 3 stars? Probably not. I did like the narrator though.

The Gifts was recommended for lovers of The Essex Serpent, which I adored last year. While I can definitely understand where such comparisons could be drawn, this book didn’t live up to The Essex Serpent, in my opinion. And because that’s what drew me to the book to begin with, I found myself a bit disappointed in it, though it wasn’t at all a bad story.

The elements of The Essex Serpent that made it so great were the thoughtful prose, the philosophical and religious ponderings, and the possible supernatural event at the heart of the story that never resolved itself. I loved the epistolary portions of the book, as well as the romantic tension. It was a slow, meandering tale that captivated me, giving a lot of food for thought without providing clear-cut answers. The setting was dark and moody and vaguely gothic, and I loved exploring it through the lens of a naturalist, as our main character viewed herself. That setting, combined with the potential presence of a supernatural element, are the main similarities between The Essex Serpentt and The Gifts. But where the former fostered deep thought and never answered the question of whether the supernatural was truly present or not, the latter was more plot-driven, and the supernatural was unquestionably present. Some important topics, like race and gender and religion, are touched on in The Gifts, but are not delved into in any meaningful way.

The Gifts is woven primarily from five main perspectives, four of whom are talented women in their fields. But as this takes place in England in the 1840s, those talents are not encouraged or even acknowledged by the majority of their male counterparts. The fifth common perspective is that of a male surgeon, and I found him absolutely despicable. As I was meant to. I could tell he was meant to be more nuanced than I read him, but I found him fairly unredeemable. I found the female perspectives interesting, but none of them ever fully won me over emotionally. And because we knew with certainty what was happening in certain perspectives, the use of these same events as mysteries to be solved by other perspective characters felt tiresome. There were decisions made that had me rolling my eyes, and events that felt entirely to convenient in terms of timing. Even had the central supernatural core of the story been removed, I would have still found the plot and timing unbelievable.

There were things I enjoyed about this book. While it took me a while to warm up to it, the storytelling was fairly compelling. The world was well fleshed out and believably rendered. There was a small romantic side plot that was sweet, and a pretty satisfying ending. However, I think I would have enjoyed this book more had I not heard it compared to The Essex Serpent. But if you’re a fan of historical fiction and are looking for something darker with an element of magical realism, I think you might enjoy The Gifts very much.

While it started it off a bit slow, "The Gifts" is more than worth continuing with. Told from several points of view, a surgeon, his wife, two young women who unexpectedly sprout wings and a few others, "The Gifts" takes the reader all over London exploring the experiences of those affected by the appearance of wings on Natalya and Etta, albeit tangentially in some cases.

Annie, the surgeon's wife, was one of my favorite characters. Struggling to be a good wife to her husband, she is upset by her inability to become pregnant and her husband, Edward's, increasingly cold and strange behavior. All the while Annie having no idea that Edward is obsessed with the women he has kidnapped and is keeping in his basement, an act he has justified by convincing himself that God has sent these winged women to him.
Mary was also a wonderful character, an aspiring writer, she is determined to find the truth behind the rumors of the winged women.

Despite the mid 1800's London setting, these women were still written strong and independent, while still remaining believable within the time. I hate when writers create such strong, modern women that it becomes impossible to believe they would have been tolerated within the time period they were written. Like it or not, society expected certain behavior and there were consequences for too much deviation.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

From the opening lines, I was intrigued! Who was this woman, or creature with wings like an angel?

This story has so much to offer: a dark gothic 19th-century feel, strong feminist protagonists, and magical realism as more "angels" appear.

A greedy (nasty) surgeon and four women tell this story. And while the characters are all interesting and well-written, I struggled with the separateness of their perspectives.

I also do not handle animal cruelty well, and the surgeon proves to be a vile man to all his "subjects." That is probably why he is a fitting villain for this tale.

The book delves into themes of greed, faith & science, as well as, class and power. While I would have enjoyed more of the fantasy element, I can understand the author wanting to maintain a strong historical atmosphere.

Thank you @bookmarked for the gifted book

Listening to this was an amazing experience and I loved it.
This book is mix of historical fiction and magical realism done in a way that captivated me from page one.
Multiples points of view came in short chapters so very well linked that I didn't lose the thread for a second.
The characters are marked by their individuality and originality, I loved how women were given the chance to express themselves through the pages, especially mary, a would be journalist in a world made just for men.
The story tackled diffrent themes such as race, mental health, relegious zele, women's rights, scientific obessession, etc...
I won't be telling you more as I would be spoiling and I really want the ones who'll pick this one up to fully enjoy it.

Full review with link coming soon. This is our May book club pick. I really enjoyed the authors writing and the concept of the book. However, there were a lot of characters and unnecessary chapters that never completely immersed me.

Have you ever read a book and felt completely unsure about what you just read? That's sort of how I'm feeling after reading The Gifts. This book is a mix of historical fiction and fantasy that follows several different women in 1800s England as they confront societal views and pressures. I wanted to love this as it has many of my favorite things...fantasy, historical fiction, women confronting the patriarchy, etc., but something about it just didn't work as well as I'd hoped.

Let me start with the positives....

I really enjoyed the mix of science and religion in this book. We have a villain who is a scientific mind, but becomes convinced that God is sending him signs. The more he comes to believe that he's divinely chosen, the more he loses sight of logic and his morality. I thought that was explored well and in some ways relevant to some of the conflicts in the world today.

I also appreciated the look at women's roles in society. We have four strong, smart women who are basically held captive, sometimes figuratively and sometimes literally, by society's wants and needs. I thought this depiction was quite accurate to the times.

I also commend the author for coming up with a unique way to discuss medical development and experimentation in the 1800s. This is a concept that is explored a lot (The Way of All Flesh and Anatomy come to mind as recent examples), but this book takes a completely different approach. I didn't always love the choices the author made, but she certainly can't be accused of repeating previous narratives.

That said, there was a lot that didn't work for me..

While I love the idea of having four different women narrating the story, I felt that it wasn't executed as well as it could have been. Occasionally, the POVs sound too similar and at times it made the story a bit clunky.

There are some pretty graphic depictions of animal abuse and experimentation on a dog. I understand that that might be authentic to the times that this book is set in, but it sort of crops up (at least the first time) with zero warning. I'm not even someone who is particularly squeamish, but had I known that scene was coming I'd have skipped over it. While I get that the author was trying to show who this scientist was ethically, I don't really think such detailed scenes of animal cruelty were necessary. I think it was used for shock value more than anything.

The elements of magical realism (the women sprouting angel wings) were interesting, but only explained in the vaguest of possible ways. There was some insinuation that the wings crop up due to extreme emotional duress, but it's never explained how or why. Is this an act of God? Is this a genetic anomaly? Why does it only happen to some women instead of all women who have suffered severe trauma? I wish the book had gone further in explaining what was happening.

The previous paragraph is quite funny when you consider that otherwise, the telling and explaining was quite heavy handed. We are spoon fed a lot of details about the setting, the characters, and the villain. It's only when it comes to the magical realism that the flow of information dries up. This is one of those cases of the book telling not showing overall.

And the conclusion...I got through the entirety of this book hoping that something profound would happen at the end to save it, but it was a fade to black for the most part. It sort of felt like the author was unsure of how to explain this magical element, so she just avoided it by giving us a vague ending.

All in all, if you enjoy historical fiction about the 1800s with magical realism elements, you might enjoy this one.

As for the audiobook, I thought the narration was fine. It wasn't the best audiobook I've ever listened to, but it also wasn't the worse. Some of the ambiguity I'm feeling toward it could also be just because I felt that way about the book.

*Thank you to Netgalley, Liz Hyder, and Sourcebooks Landmark for the Audio & E-ARC of this book. This in no way affects the objectivity of my review.

This is a magical story of extraordinary women who inspire, create, love and want more than Victorian norms allow. Thanks to the audiobook, this story came to life and drew me in. Tuppence Middleton has a very nice-sounding voice, which he uses masterfully. She easily expresses the characters' emotions and naturally reads the dialogues of the male characters. It also made it easy to navigate between multiple PoVs. Each chapter was preceded by the name of the character whose PoV is depicted. I checked, and I know that the book does not have such an option; therefore a big plus for the audiobook. This historical fiction's plot is hard to describe without a spoiler, so that I won't try. However, I can say that what I liked the most was the very well-presented reality of the era and the characters who develop and mature in the pages of this novel.

This was lovely. I loved the narration.
I was uncomfortable when the dog was "euthanized" and had to have a break, so if you're a dog person who have euthanized dogs you might want to fast forward through some parts. It was still worth the listen.

Interesting book that has you guessing the whole time what is going to happen next. There were a lot of characters and I did feel like I got confused a couple of times while trying to keep all the characters straight.

Set in Victorian London, this story explores science, religion, and the autonomy of women. There are five main characters, each with their own struggles and ambitions, that are brought together over the course of the story.

This book had a promising premise that ultimately fell flat.

The narrator of the audiobook is really great, however the constantly changing point of view was jarring. It would seem there aren’t chapters so much as frequent, small sections that shifts perspectives of the five man characters. The pacing was uneven. No matter how great the narrator was, the book couldn’t be salvaged.

Also, there are descriptions of animal cruelty, death, and surgery that some readers might find graphic.