The Specimens

by Mairi Kidd

"A work of fiction that is both a potent portrait of early 19th-century Edinburgh but also a story about female agency or the lack of it. The result is a compelling, painful, haunted piece of work." THE HERALD

Up the close and down the stair, meet the women of Burke and Hare

Edinburgh, 1828. Two women - one rich, one poor - must navigate life against a frenzied backdrop of medical discovery, mob mayhem, and murder.

The home Helen shares in the slums of the Old Town with her lover William Burke could hardly be more different from Susan's dreams of an affluent existence as the wife of Robert Knox, one of the foremost anatomists of the day. But as people begin disappearing, these two very different women face an impossible choice. Should they protect what lives they have or tell the truth about what they know?

This is the story of the notorious serial killings of Burke and Hare, told for the first time through the eyes of two very different women, whose stories explore the depths of the human heart in a perilous, vulnerable world.


PRAISE FOR THE SPECIMENS

"Beguiling and atmospheric, this is as much an engrossing character study as a bold reimagining of the infamous anatomy murders." HEAT MAGAZINE

"A fresh, feminine take on the horrors of Burke and Hare and their complicit Edinburgh anatomists" SALLY MAGNUSSON

"Gruesomely gripping, this story will stay with you for a long time, its characters so well developed, you fear you might bump into one in a dark Edinburgh close" SUE LAWRENCE

"Mairi Kidd holds a lantern up to the brutality of women's lives in Burke, Hare and Knox's Edinburgh. She draws a fine thread between women's bodily experiences now and then, and her voice is so authentic I felt as if I was there" LUCY RIBCHESTER

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Thriller, Scotland

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2024

About the author

Mairi Kidd is Head of Literature, Languages and Publishing at Creative Scotland. She was formerly Managing Director of Barrington Stoke, a prize-winning publisher. A fluent Gaelic speaker, she has an MA in Celtic Studies from Edinburgh University. As CEO of Stòrlann, the National Gaelic Education Resource Agency, she worked with Scottish Government, Bòrd na Gàidhlig and local authorities. She is a contributor to BBC Radio nan Gàidheal's books coverage and writes for broadcast, including Gaelic comedy series FUNC.

Reviews

[Alexandra Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book!! I can’t believe this hasn’t been read/rated much! It’s an excellent book!
The true story of Burke and Hare reimagined through fictional tales of the women in their lives and those impacted by their acts.
I loved the descriptive writing, I really could imagine all the people in Edinburgh during 1828. The book is told from different women’s perspectives and I really enjoyed each storyline and how each was different even though it is about the same overall plot.

[one.too.many.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can vividly remember my first visit to Edinburgh, a few years before I moved to Scotland. I’ve loved Edinburgh ever since and think it has such a fascinating history. I did a walking tour around the city and remember hearing about notorious serial killers Burke and Hare.

The Specimens is a retelling of this time of history but with a focus on the women who were also part of this story. As I said, I find this part of history fascinating. I was instantly drawn into this story, not least because of the setting, the story telling and the fact it has Scottish dialect in it! The audiobook is delightful to listen to too!

As a little pre warning; it is at times hard to read due to the very gruesome nature of some of these crimes committed by these men. However I also found that made it very real and a brilliant reading experience, so this is not a negative for me.

The Specimens weaves fiction and historical facts seamlessly and is such a fantastic read! I loved reading the author’s note at the end to find out what was real historical facts and what fiction.

I highly recommend The Specimens and this would be a brilliant read for spooky season.

[Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

For about three quarters of the story, I was waiting for the two women to get “caught up in those horrific matters”, as mentioned in the book description. This book shines very little light on this gruesome part of Scottish history.

I know a little about Burke and Hare and I thought this story would have given me more facts or information on them and the murders but I might as well have just googled them and discovered plenty more information that way. Yes, I am aware this is fiction. But it is also inspired by true crime events, and there doesn’t seem to be much of it in this story. I was enjoying it up until a certain point and then I was quite bored. I preferred when it was in Susan’s perspective, being stuck at Lillypot etc but I didn’t really care for much apart from that.

[Veerle Peene · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars (doorgeefboek spoilers voor Mare Kathi Romy)

tbh, ik had er iets meer van verwacht, omdat het zo'n groot en bekend verhaal in Edinburgh is en ik echt heel intrigued was door de ghost tour die we hadden gedaan. ik vind het wel goed gedaan, vooral het detail van het leven van de vrouwen van Burke, Hare, en Knox. ook vond ik het oude taalgebruik goed uitgevoerd, al werd het gebruik van het Schots uiteindelijk een beetje tedious en gimmicky. dit haalde voor mij een beetje de kracht weg, was sterker geweest als het wat sporadischer was gebruikt.
ook vond ik dat de achtergrond van de vermoordde personages soms een beetje minimaal was, zonde.

all in all wel vermakelijk geweest, zeker de 2e helft! en natuurlijk is de uitkomst echt zo zuur...

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visceral

[Debbie Gough · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this like a history book. I enjoyed reading about the lives during this era but I just needed more from it. I’ve always been fascinated with the Burke and Hare body snatchers and serial killers. I know this is from the women’s perspective but it just lacked something.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Specimens is a retelling of the notorious Edinburgh body snatchers, Burke and Hare. This retelling, however, is told through the perspectives of Helen, 'wife' to William Burke and Susan, the wife of John Knox.
This is brutal and harrowing. The back stories are fictional, but you get a real sense of how dire that time period was, especially if you were a woman.

[Romy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

Dit boek gaf me helemaal een nostalgisch gevoel naar onze Edinburgh girls trip!
Tijdens onze trip hebben we een ghost tour gedaan, waar we het verhaal hoorden van Edinburgh’s notorious serial killers William Burke en William Hare. Ik wist natuurlijk al hoe het ging eindigen maar vond het erg boeiend om te lezen vanuit de perspectieven van hun echtgenotes. Ik had er net wat meer van verwacht want vond het verhaal soms wat onduidelijk en ook wat plot holes bevatten. Maar het is ook voor 80% fictie omdat er nou eenmaal heel weinig bekend is over Helen en Susan en alle slachtoffers (wel goed om even de Author’s note te lezen).

Al met al zeker vermakelijk en ik zou hem aanraden vooral tijdens een tripje naar Schotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Het is zeker geen slecht boek, maar gewoon niet helemaal iets voor mij denk ik. Het was een souvenir uit Edinburgh voor mezelf, en het is een historische fictie over de moorden van Burke en Hare. Ik vind het gewoon niet zo fijn om te lezen in de 1700/1800, omdat alles een beetje viezig is en hygiëne niet echt een ding, en vrouwen echt zo negatief gezien en behandeld worden.

[Kitkat · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in 1828 Edinburgh this story follows Helen, the would be wife of William Burke, one of the infamous duo of the Burke and Hare murders and Susan, the naive would be wife of Dr Knox an anatomist always in need of fresh bodies.

I was thoroughly invested in Helen’s story. Her origins and life were rough and though she had a family she had to find her own way in the world. Eventually she finds her way to William Burke. I enjoyed the lead up to this, getting to know Helen, her life and what the world was like during this time period were all fascinating.
Eventually they go to Edinburgh where they eventually meet William Hare and Margaret. I deeply disliked these two but it was interesting how Burke and Helen got wrapped up with them. I also found it compelling that Burke wasn’t a terrible person outwardly. He was weak and cowardly and looking for an easy answer but I wonder if he’d never met Hare if he would have lived a normal life. It was just a great exploration of Helen’s life with him. We see the reasons she loves him, how her life is good in many respects especially compared to much of the poorer population. This is perhaps why she begins to lie to herself about things. How much did she truly know? If she suspected and did nothing, how culpable does that make her? A lot of interesting thoughts were brought up by her story. I do think her ending was satisfying in a lot of respects too.

Susan, in contrast, had all the fineries and security she could have wanted but it locked her into a gilded cage before she even realised what had happened. I felt so sorry for her and the life she was trapped in. Her husband was far far more evil to her and others than Burke but how much of it all was his fault? He’s very much a backdrop to Burke so I wonder again how much fault we can lay on his shoulders. I’m inclined to hate him but surely he wasn’t the only one in his profession paying for bodies. He was a product of his upbringing and his desire for more, (status, respect, notability) and he perhaps drove Burke and Hare’s activity. His is the culpability of greed and indifference, I think. And I have to say, the end of Susan’s story was deeply satisfying. After all those years being used to breed and being violated and caged by her husband’s word she got her moment. It suited Susan’s personality but I do wish it had been more.

I will say, it took the majority of the book before the murders were discussed and though I enjoyed the rest of it I wish we’d had little more time with Helen’s discovery and what it meant for the rest of them. Though I did find the victims pov very emotional since it really brought their humanity to the forefront and thus made the murder so much more awful. Mostly though, the murders weren’t discussed and the story was mostly just an exploration of Helen’s life (and Susan’s to a lesser degree).

Overall an interesting exploration of this time period with a focus of the people closely linked with Burke and Hare and how they and it all came to be. Its a slower pacing but it worked well and I ended up reading it two sittings. Definitely an enjoyable historical fiction read

[Alix Morland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my usual vibe but I thoroughly enjoyed

[The Victorian Bookseller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Specimens is a grimy, visceral, historical fiction based on the 'Burke and Hare' Westport murders, with a poignant narrative focus on the real women who existed in the periphery of the case. Particular focus is given to Helen McDougal, the wife of William Burke, who was trialled alongside him, and became a media pariah during the height of the pairs infamy. The vast bulk of Helen's story is based around the true facts of her life, and confusing moral involvement in the Westport murders.

Helen's narrative is told alongside that of Susan, the wife of anatomist Robert Knox, who was known for purchasing bodies from Burke and Hare without care for their unscrupulous origins. Susan, whose life was almost entirely unrecorded, is given a fictionalised narrative that portrays the disrespect of women's bodily autonomy in early 19th century anatomical research. At opposite ends of the class spectrum, both Helen and Susan find themselves connected to the crimes, and grappling with their vastly different roles.

I read up on the details of the Burke and Hare case whilst reading this book, and truly appreciated how well Mairi Kidd was able to build this incredible narrative around the facts, filling in the gaps with brilliantly complex and inventive fiction. A real sense of identity is also given to the victims, whose lives Kidd writes 'almost seem secondary to the narrative' in modern recollections of the case. The Specimens is definitely one of the best historical fictions I have read, and I am incredibly excited to read future novels from Mairi Kidd!

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting female perspective on the graverobbing/ murderous activity of Burke and Hare back in the day in Edinburgh. The story may not have been very gripping but the best part about this book is it's highlighting the women that were involved in this historic scandal. It's rare to hear the female perspective from historical events but this book captures it.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this book, i loved the way it was written especially

i had no knowledge of these crimes before and the author weaved the plot and the storyline perfectly, i finished the last 1/3 of the book all in one go because i was really enjoying it. my favourite POV parts were susans, i loved seeing life through her perspective and i felt all the emotions for her throughout the book

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kinda went into this blind and would for sure recommend checking TW incase you’re not prepared for anything but it was a very good read that I enjoyed, it was interesting to see the story from the perspective of the women surrounding the story.

[Shona · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story took so long to get anywhere and when it did it just wasn’t fast paced enough to hold a lot of interest. I liked the different perspectives of the story and the book didn’t shy away from how difficult life was back then - especially for women. It was just too boring for too long!

[Victoria Catherine Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first came across Mairi Kidd a few years ago when I was sent a review copy of her book We Are All Witches, in which she fictionalised the stories of 16 Scottish women who had been accused of witchcraft, deconstructing the traditional narratives and giving voice to the silenced women at the centre of the stories. In The Specimens, Kidd similarly imagines a voice for two women who, despite being at the heart of Scotland's infamous West Port Murders, are often overlooked.

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Most people are familiar with the tale of Burke and Hare, Scotland's most notorious grave robbers turned serial killers, and Dr Knox, who paid to acquire their victims for dissection at Surgeons' Square in Edinburgh. Fewer people know of Burke's wife, Helen, who was charged with murder alongside her husband, Hare's partner, Margaret Laird, who resided at the property on Tanner's Close where the murders took place, or Knox's wife, Susan, about whom little is known. In The Specimens, Kidd imagines the lives of these women and their proximity to the murders, telling the story of the West Port Murders through a new - female - lens.

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Kidd brings old Edinburgh to life, creating a real sense of place and time as she explores the grim and often brutal lives of her characters. Her two central protagonists, Helen and Susan, are both convincingly depicted with their own stories, but the two narratives ultimately struggle with focus and feel disconnected given the lack of overlap between Helen and Susan's lives.

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Kidd explores two related but distinct threads - the murders themselves and the medical ethics of the time. The murders, and Helen's involvement in them, are Kidd's primary focus, with Susan and her connection to Dr Knox being somewhat tangential and less developed, almost diverting the reader from the central narrative. To my mind, The Specimens would have been a stronger, more focussed story if it dealt solely with the murders, and was told through the narratives of Helen and Margaret.

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That's not to say that Susan's story didn't have potential. On the contrary - for me, it was the most thought-provoking part of the story, and shone a light on the often neglected subject of ethics in historical medicine. It is, however, the most heavily fictionalised element of the story due to so little being known about Susan, and I think it could have been its own book distinct from the West Port Murders.

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[Skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the early 1800s, the case of the two Williams Burke and Hare goes through the time where the men initially exumed bodies to sell to doctors only to eventually turn to murdering people in order to sell their bodies.

We are told this through the perspective of Helen, an abused woman who goes off to work in the fields to start anew when she meets Burke and Susan (? I don't actually remember if that's her name) who is the wife of Robert Knox, a doctor that famously purchased bodies from B&H

I loved Helen's pov, it's right with the action and she and Burke end up living with Hare and Margaret and there's a whole drama there. I can't lie, I didn't really care for Susan, her story is interesting don't get me wrong, she's locked away as a glorified nanny with only getting visited from Knox every so often to get her pregnant. Susan's perspective just doesn't really add to the story as a whole until the last few chapters and even then it's underwhelming. I'd rather hear from Margaret since she was hands on with the murders.

I like the titles of the chapters are medical terms for injuries and the chapters do relate to their titles, it's a nice touch of foreshadowing. I quite enjoyed this one, a good bit of historical fiction and it's made me interested in the actual case since I'd not heard of it before this!

[Iona · Rating 3 out of 5]

got the fear every time falkirk was mentioned

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really harrowing and interesting fictional take on the true story of Burke and Hare!

[Zoe Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 star 🌟
The story of Burke and Hare the infamous body snatchers and Doctor Knox but the main characters are the woman in their lives. Nice bit of Edinburgh history told with historical license and enjoyed the novel.
Interesting how the partner of Burke went on trial with him and some truth wound into the fiction.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Millie Mulroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book called to me from the window of a bookshop! I mean, look at the cover - it is just beautiful.

Mairi Kidd painted a wonderful picture of the lives of two women in the early 1800s - one very poor, the other somewhat upper middle class - and all the other women they encounter. It was sometimes hard to read because it made me so sad. 5 stars for that.
Minus one for the boring trial (that did not need to be as long).

[Ziggy Nixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you sure it was a natural death?

3½ stars. The Herald has described Mairi Kidd's "The Specimens" as "A work of fiction that is both a potent portrait of early 19th-century Edinburgh but also a story about female agency or the lack of it. The result is a compelling, painful, haunted piece of work." In some ways I can agree with this assessment and in others I find it somewhat to even very much lacking. This is not what I'd call a retelling but recounting of historical facts with a great deal of poetic license taken to fill the gaps. Maybe those are the same thing, I don't know. Don't ask me, I just read here…

Even if it’s not in the Bible, it’s against the law to sell a body, it must be.

I first learned of the serial killers Burke and Hare during a tourist bus tour in Edinburgh, a city that should NEVER be explored solely on foot (the pain! the pain!). In fact, I found it more than amusing in fact that there is an "Adult Entertainment Club" along the route named for the killers and is, indeed, considered to be Edinburgh's Number 1 "Lap & Pole Dancing Bar in Scotland." How such a ranking is established is beyond me, but personally I think the killers would have had a good laugh about it, especially as it beats having some ugly statue erected in an obscure part of town commemorating your heinous crimes.

Should have sold him to the anatomists, so I should.

Our tour guide also gave a goodly amount of information to the history of Edinburgh's medical and University community, particularly to their interest in anatomical "explorations", the need for a great number of bodies to support same, and the great shows that resulted when the cutting promised to fill the operating theatres with eagerly curious students of medicine ("Notoriety does not seem to suppress interest – quite the opposite, in fact."). So except for the finer details - which I think Kidd does an adequate job of creating - the grander picture was in large part known to me. As was the sheer fact - and let's be blunt here - that in this era (and those following up to in many cases modern day politics and religions) women were treated like, well, shit. No that's not true: many regarded shit as having value…

Her heart only stilled when she saw him… staring at nothing. Dead and gone to Hell.

I mean, look at the facts: Hit a woman? Well, obviously she did something to deserve it and besides, it was a husband's right to insist on respect and whatnot. The fact that there so many female victims of our serial killers? Yeah, whatever, I wonder what they did to deserve such a fate. I mean, come on, they surely must have been asking for it. And when we do find actual indications to their identities: "Of the women, we read of drunkenness, degradation, wild behaviour, and prostitution." Kidd tried her best to steer the realities of these women away from these very identifiers, but with somewhat less than convincing results. Ah, strong whisky makes all things blur in time…

She joked about it, that’s all. Said we’d get ten pounds for you if you died too.

And what of Susan and her life as an stay-at-home prisoner, which began promptly after her marriage? The author admits that her story is "almost entirely fictional", giving obviously some balance to their horrors that her 'common law' husband Robert Knox - someone everyone who reads this should thoroughly detest by the last page - encouraged by both financial means as well as protection of the guilty ("They’re saying brother Robert bought the bodies for his classes."). It is also the second most unbelievable part of this story to me, that an intelligent woman of her 'adoptive' standing did not somehow free herself from her jailers much earlier on. Though I admit her ultimate "in your face!" response to Robert by the end of the story was very satisfying indeed, especially once we are made clear that he had even used "his own dead children’s bodies ... to do with them we know not what"!

She slept that whole day, dreaming of hands and feet and nightmare things in jars…

The most unbelievable part of the whole tale to me is simply the fact that I could not see Kidd's version of Burke being who he turned out to be. To me, this was a meager, small-framed milquetoast of a man - one who shows himself to be little more than a man capable of great hypocrisy, on one hand often taking the role of amateur priest albeit one who has abandoned a wife and children in Ireland to seek his fortune in Scotland. I cannot see him either having the backbone or gumption to commit these crimes nor in any way keeping them a secret from anyone, let alone Helen or the police ("I didna see badness in him, just weakness."). Now certainly Hare - and his dreadful shrew of a wife Margaret - fit the bill as serial killers without a doubt. But otherwise I just saw the differences as being too great to swallow.

She knew she might meet her Maker very soon indeed.

Ultimately, though this history lesson was interesting as it could be to a self-professed and forever faithful Scotophile, overall it moves as slow as treacle on a cold day. The repetitious nature - from Helen's misguided trust in the worst men she could possibly find to couple with - to the constant pregnancies and lamentations of Susan as her world reached a crumbling - yet freeing climax - proved difficult not so much to navigate but to do so with patience. I also found the tendency to go into so much exacting detail about seemingly unrelated aspects to be distracting (for example: what was up with the intense and long-running attention on the "baby house"?). I also found it odd that after most of the book alternating regularly between Helen and then Susan's realities that a large portion to the end instead focused almost solely on the increasingly turbulent life of Helen. It led then to a somewhat uneven pacing regarding the book as a whole.

There’s no teaching in summer. It’s too hot, for . . . och, you know.

Do not misunderstand me: it is not a bad read by any stretch of the imagination and is very well executed - I especially enjoyed the realistic use of Scottish phrases, which admittedly were often a right "gallimaufry"! - but it is an gothically presented book of history. As Mills puts it: "It observes the basic facts of the ‘West Port Murders’ of 1828." There is not any horror per se but as is often the case in these stories, there is much to be horrified by and to find horrifying in the way humans treated each other in that day and age. And perhaps to examine just how little we have advanced a species since then.

[Ash Dunlop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the setting having basis in fact through the story of Burke and Hare but retold/reimagined via the perspectives of the women. And loved the rich descriptions of Edinburgh!

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book - brilliant writing and sense of place

[Lydia Berlioz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good story to write about from female perspective, just found it quite confusing at times and switching between the characters

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well written and atmospheric book where the world of the notorious Edinburgh murderers, Burke and Hare is looked at from the female perspective of Burke's common law wife, Helen, and Susan, the wife of Dr Robert Knox, the infamous surgeon who procured many of the bodies for dissection in return for payments to Burke and Hare.

Where it is particularly good is in its description of the dark claustrophobic world of early 19th century Edinburgh and its outlying villages. It gives a fairly persuasive view of the Burke and Hare as characters, the dynamics of their relationship and the brutality of their murders. There is also the authorities' indifference to the victims, many of whom were so poor or old that the identities were never established properly. The feeling of the Edinburgh Establishment closing ranks and doing deals by the end to punish only one guilty person, an itinerant Irishman, seems all too familiar when it is considered that only one scapegoat (albeit a heinous one in this case) is required.

However, the two women at the centre of the book never meet and the differences in their backgrounds and lives do not overlap at any point. That does create a slightly unbalanced novel with two rather unrelated stories going on. They dovetail only in the very loosest sense. Whilst both stories are interesting in their own ways, they feel too disparate to be part of the same novel.

Furthermore, whilst both stories are fictional to a degree, there is little doubt that Helen's story is considerably more documented historically and factually. That means that Helen's story is a work of far less fiction than Susan's. Helen's story would best be described as a fair imagining of what the real Helen may have experienced and felt. This is then tied into Susan's story where so few facts are known about the real Susan that it is virtually 100% fictional. However, you do not realise that unless you bother to read the Afterword. Whilst one cannot fault the author for the level of transparency in that Afterword and I am not against either approaches to fiction, the uneasy mixing of them together in one novel did detract from the satisfaction of reading the book.

Nevertheless, as a way of finding out about the Burke and Hare scandal and the societal position of ordinary people, particularly women, at that time, it was a thoughtful read.

[Kevin Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of the 19th century Edinburgh bodysnatchers Burke and Hare has been told many times, both as history and fiction. Yet Mairi Kidd's novel "The Specimens" manages to say something new about the notorious killers. Kidd's novel is concerned with the women in the lives of the killers and Robert Knox, one of the anatomists who received the bodies from Burke and Hare. Most of the narrative is seen from the perspective of Helen, William Burke's lover and Susan, the "wife" of Robert Knox. These two women are very different: Susan is wealthy and, at least on the surface, privileged, while Helen lives in poverty in the crowded slums of Edinburgh's Old Town.

After "marrying" Knox in a tavern, Susan becomes a virtual prisoner at Knox's home, Lillypot near Leith. For years she never leaves the home, the letters she writes are unanswered, raises Knox's children and is continually watched over by staff Knox has employed. Knox himself is a rare visitor and when he does appear, he and his colleagues treat her as a "specimen" to be examined.

After Helen's abusive husband dies, she works on a farm where she meets William Burke and they build a life together. Initially, Burke appears to be an honest and religious individual, but when they move to Edinburgh Old Town and share accommodation with Hare and Hare's lover Margaret, things begin to go array. Over time Helen becomes increasingly suspicious about those who go missing after meeting Burke and Hare, but for too long she sets her concerns aside, accepting Burke's explanations.

As the story reaches its inevitable conclusions, we see Susan and Helen beginning to live their lives on their own terms.