Shadows Beneath Gaslights Book Reviews

Shadows Beneath Gaslights by Teresa van der Kraan Book Summary

Dr Rowland Berkley is an upper-middle-class intellectual, revolted by the modern world and his own existence. Weary of the optimism of his well-meaning brother Joseph, who works as manager of a factory owned by magnate John Calhoun, Rowland divides his time between study, vapid social engagements and bouts of existential disgust. He seeks respite in his work as a philosopher of phrenology, initially unconcerned by the murky methods through which his mentor secures dead bodies for anatomical study.

Harker O'Malley is a union man and grave-robber, always on the look-out for the corpse that will garner the best sum. While his adoptive mother, Peggy, works day and night in Calhoun's factory, Harker and his family strive to supplement their income through illegal means. This becomes increasingly necessary, and risky, when the family provokes the grudge of a corrupt parish constable.

While union activity threatens to undermine Joseph's authority in the factory, Rowland and Harker's social circles begin to collide. Exploring class relations in the early Industrial Revolution, Shadows Beneath Gaslights is a self-aware, at times scathing and grotesque, exploration of modernity, alienation and the legacy of the Enlightenment.

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Shadows Beneath Gaslights (Teresa van der Kraan) Book Reviews 2024

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