Tooth and Claw - Likewise Book Reviews

"Walton richly reimagines the 19th century family melodrama : the burdens of class, thwarted young love, social upheaval…in a world where drawing room cuts and social death translate to literal dismemberment. Like the Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility, Selendra and Hanem have been left with meager dowries on the death of their father, defrauded out of their due portion by an officious brother-in-law. (Did I mention that part of their inheritance was the right to consume dear old Dad’s body? I digress.) This leads to familial strife, terminating in an unpleasantly messy court case (you have no idea) brought by their brother. <br/><br/>In many ways this resembles, say Middlemarch.<br/>You have the ardent couple separated by class, the overbearing snobbish mother-in-law, the persecuted “old church” believers, the radicals advocating for servants rights, the independent young woman making her way despite a traumatic past. You can almost forget that you’re reading about dragons…until someone gets eaten."