The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits
THE WOMAN WHO GAVE BIRTH TO RABBITS (New York: Harcourt, 2002, ISBN 0-15-100937-6, paperback 0-15-602739-9) (London: Virago, 2002, ISBN 1-86049-954-6). This book is a sequence of short stories about peculiar little incidents in the history of the British Isles, from a 1300s Satanist to an 1800s animal-rights campaign. A Dutch translation is forthcoming. THE WOMAN WHO GAVE BIRTH TO RABBITS was a finalist in the 2003 Stonewall Book Award.
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‘She uses scraps of history to spin raucous, whole-cloth yarns… Earthy, exhilarating tales.’ – ELLE
‘Piercing imagery, clever plotting, splendid stories’ – TIME OUT
‘What is so astonishing about this collection is not just that the stories are exotic, though that is one of the pleasures of historical fiction. Nor is it the skill with which Donoghue revives history; the places and times and people of these tales come hurtling up off the page
from the deep past with the emotional force of the newly awakened dead presenting themselves at your bedside in the middle of the night. Nor is it the pure economy of Donoghue's writing, its cleverness, its startling insights, its brisk and surprising turns, its grim humor, its sadness and tenderness. It is all those things -- which would be enough, surely -- and then something else, too. Donoghue tells these stories simply, almost conversationally, and they have the unmistakable, uncanny ring of truth … In the best of them, she shows herself to be captivated by the surprising possibilities of human nature; a loving chronicler of the physical world, especially the lost physical world of the past; and a sensitive compass in the arena of moral and emotional dilemma. And she is delightfully, sympathetically (one almost senses, helplessly) attuned to the demanding business of being alive, along with the mysterious process by which experience can be transformed into art. These stories spill their riches over the page … The Woman Who Gave Birth To Rabbits is more than just a poised encounter with history's detritus. It is an inspired dance on the narrow and exhilarating cliff-edge of art.’ – WASHINGTON POST
‘Eccentric, untethered genius… Facts from history and fiction from Donoghue's fertile brain are then mixed and spread across a new canvas, each one an original. … Donoghue works a sorcerer's trick in these offerings -- each seems to be exactly as long as it should be.’ – SEATTLE TIMES
‘A smorgasbord of wry, robust and extraordinary tales.’ – PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
‘Razor-sharp vignettes of the fates of women… You’ll think of Boccaccio and Chaucer (as well as Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood)… These jewel-like stories vibrate with thickly textured detail and vigorous period language. Donoghue’s colorful, confrontational historically based fiction is making something entirely new and captivating out of gender issues. One of the best books of the year thus far. … Donoghue has staked a claim to her own distinctive fictional territory.’ – KIRKUS