Emma Donoghue: The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits

Emma Donoghue: The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits

In the Foreword for this collection of short stories, Donoghue writes: "Over the last ten years, I have often stumbled over a scrap of history so fascinating that I had to stop whatever I was doing and write a story about it. My sources are the flotsam and jetsam of the last seven hundred years of British and Irish life: surgical case-notes; trial records; a plague ballad; theological pamphlets; a painting of two girls in a garden; an articulated skeleton."

I have read some amateur texts written with the same method, picking an existing, non-fiction text, usually a piece of news and then writing a short story about the event. However, Donoghue's short stories differ from the stories I have previously read because they are based on extraordinary facts and they are written exceptionally well.

My favourite of the stories was probably "Dido", whose protagonist is based on the historical figure of Dido Bell, born in England, a daughter of an African slave woman. In the story the position of a free black person in 18th century Britain becomes clear when Dido leaves her home to go to the town amd faces people's reactions. "Words for Things", telling about young Mary Wollstonecraft, and "A Short Story", which tells the story ofa ver small person, Caroline Crachami, were also brilliant.

Ireland Reading Challenge: Some of the stories were set in Ireland, but I have to admit, I can't remember which. The lives of Brits and Irish people in 18th and early 19th century seemed very similar to a Finn. If someone can point out some clearly Irish features of the book, I'd be glad to hear them!