Mary Reilly (novel)
Mary Reilly (1990) is a Nebula Award-nominated parallel novel by Valerie Martin.
It tells the story of Mary Reilly, a young maid working in the house of Dr. Jekyll, through the diaries she keeps during the same period as the events of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R.L. Stevenson.
The novel was made into a feature film of the same title, released in 1996.
Analysis
Mary Reilly meets the requirements of the Rule: Mary and the household cook talk to each other about the garden they are tending throughout the story. Mary, Cook and Annie, the three female servants at Dr. Jekyll's house, talk to each other, though Annie's role is very small, and, as one would expect under the circumstances, their conversation is often about their employer, the other, male, servants, and their employer's mysterious male assistant. Mary has no leisure to meet or continue relationships to people outside the house -- her mother is an offstage presence -- except Mrs. Farraday, whom she visits as a messenger on behalf of Dr. Jekyll, and Dr. Jekyll's visitors are all men.
External links
- Wikipedia entry
- The Woman Who Loved Dr. Jekyll, a review by John Crowley at the New York Times, follow by a short interview of Martin by Laurel Graeber.
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