Author gets more than skindeepin ‘Anatomy’

DanaSchwartz digsupbodies,as wellasissues of classand gender,innew YA novel

BY SETH COMBS

At onepoint duringour interview, Dana Schwartzpoints toa particular row onone ofherbookshelves.

“All of thatshelfis corpses andaboutthedawn of surgery,”Schwartzsays from herLosAngeleshome, a mischievousliltinher voice.

“There are somebooks in there withsometruly gruesomeillustrations.”

She goeson to callthese books,andtheadditional research shedidforher recently releasednovel “Anatomy: A Love Story,”a “fun gift” that,as grimassome ofthe detailsmayhave been,helped give her the confidence to write thenovel.

“Themore research I did, themoreI realizedthatwhatI was learning was a gift, because everything I was learning was fascinatingand compelling— things that I wanted to putin thebook,”Schwartz says.

Yes, “Anatomy” ismany things: A Gothic romance set in 19thcentury Edinburgh, Scotland, complete with understated feminist themes inthe veinofBrontë andShelley It’s also a youngadult mystery novel that sparkeda bidding war amongpublishers and was pickedforReese Witherspoon’s bookclub.And it’s a deepdive into classism and wealth gapsintheearly 1800s.

Butwhatmakes “Anatomy sucha consummate book forour current momentisits emphasisonscience and deductive reasoning at a time whensomanyseem to be happy to ignore facts out of fearorbecause ofpolitics.

Attimes,it works almost likea detective novel,withits chiefprotagonist, a young womannamedHazel using logic to fulfillherdreamsof becoming a surgeonat a time where women were notallowed.

“She’sa scientistatheart,” Schwartzsays.“She’s some-

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Hazel and Jack, a “resurrectionman (arather poetic descriptorfor a personwho dugup fresh corpses from graveyards to sell to hospitals anddoctorsfordissection).

“Anatomy” by DanaSchwartz(Wednesday Books,2022; 352 pages) onewho’s good at analyzing dataand coming to conclusions,and I thinkshe’s very pragmatic.” Andsure,theblood, gore andmacabre depictionsof grave-robbingandsurgical procedures usingdescriptionssuch as “pulledouta molarwith a sickeningcrack” and “pulledat a few ofthe still-bleeding veins” will likelybecringe-inducingfor many readers. Yettheyare necessary to understanding how science was evolving aroundthistimeandwhy Hazeldesperately wants to be part ofthat awakening. “IalwaysknewI didn’t want to shy away fromthe more gruesome elementsof surgery,”Schwartzsays.“It was very important to me to make sure everyoneknew that this wasn’t justsome romanticizedview ofthepast.People are alwayslike,‘I want to live inthe goodold days,’andI’m alwayssaying,‘Um,no you don’t.It was awful.’” Thenthere’s thatsubtitle: “A Love Story.” Readers could thinkthey’re inforsomekind of torrid,pre-Victorian romancenovel.And yes,there’s aromanticsubplotbetween

GivenHazel’s affluent upbringing and Jack’s impoverishedbackground,thestory has all theelementsof a forbidden romance,butSchwartz maintainsthatthetrue“love story” is one thatismuch more “nonspecific.”

“Hazelisfallinginlove with more than just a person,” Schwartzsays.“It’s a love story between a girl and the restofthe world.”

AndwhileSchwartz says she’s reluctant to usethe word “historical fiction,”because readersmightsee it as“stuffy” and“boring,”shedoesseamlessly weave in descriptionsof classandsocialstatusesin 1800sEdinburgh.Both through Hazeland,more explicitly, through Jack, Schwartzsaysthere are contemporary issuesthatthe readerwill recognize.

“ThemainmysteryI wanted to pick atandunravel iswho getsforgotteninsociety andforwhatpurpose,” Schwartzsays.“Obviously today there is a huge wealth gap that continues to grow, butinthe 1800s, the aristocracymadethat wealth gap explicit There wasa socialand cultural line,so I wanted to explore in a way thatdoesn’t necessarilylabelthe charactersasheroesorvillains.”

Schwartzhas explored these typesofissuesbefore In addition to beinganaccom- plished cultural andentertainment journalist sheisalsothe hostof“NobleBlood,” a podcaststarted in2019 that explores theoften brutal reigns ofsomeofhistory’s most notoriousmonarchies.

“I’ve written hundreds of thousandsof words of narrative history fortheshow,” Schwartzsays.“So I feltmuch more confidentinthe voiceof the 19thcentury thanI otherwise wouldhave.”

It’s stilleasy to see her razor-sharpwit,most evidencedonheroften hilarious Twitter posts,onthepagesof “Anatomy as well.Shebrings aslysenseofhumor to an otherwiseseriousnovel filled with grislyelements to a point where the readermight find themselveslaughingoutloud mere seconds after reading abouttheinnardsof a corpse.

“Isort ofbeganmycareer writingsnarkythings onthe Internet and I sort of gravitated towardsbeingfunny but it was alsoliberatingforme to write a reallyearnestnovel,” Schwartzsays.“I wouldnot havewanted to writea novel that wasn’tfunnyordoesn’t have funnylines, butatthe same time, I wanted to putmy bleedingheart outonthe page.” Justas “Anatomy” hasshot up toNo.1 onthebestselling fiction charts,Schwartz says she’s already working ona sequel to thenovel.Sheisn’t sure ifshe envisions “Anatomy” asanongoingseriesof novelsbutseemsopen to the idea.

“I want to take each story asit comes,and I wouldn’t want to writea bookif I wasn’t genuinely excitedaboutthe story, Schwartzsays.“But rightnow, I have anideafora sequelthatI really want totell and I thinkwillbe really fun.I thoughtthis was going to bea one-off,butwhen I reachedthe ending, andI sat withthatfor afew months, I thoughtthat there’s somethingelsehere.” Combsisafreelancewriter.

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