Orpheus Builds a Girl by Heather Parry

Might contain spoilers.

Thanks to Netgallery, the publisher and Heather Parry for this ARC.

This is a challenging, dark and emotional at times read, taking the true bizarre story of Carl Tanzler and Elena Millagro de Hoyos as it's basis but changing the names to Wilhelm Von Tore and Luciana Herrera Madrigal aka Luci. There are two narrators in Wilhelm and Luci's sister Gabriela. His side being a written as a medical paper but you see his delusion, obsession, misogyny and racism and he comes off to me an unreliable narrator and just a creep, whereas Gabriela's version feels more truthful and shows that Luci was a complex girl but also shows how when she gets ill the mother of them who has suffered loss of one child would be swayed by a man claiming to be able to save her child even when she knows he has dark intentions. Also Gabriela writes about their childhood in Cuba and having to flee to America when Castro comes into power , adjusting to their new lives and circumstances that would make them susceptible to the manipulations of a man like Von Tore. Also you see the prejudices against Cubans and also just how the system allow for someone to some of the stuff he does. Also we see just as now that some people will sympathise with the criminal and support their actions. I really enjoyed this book and will read more from this author in the future.

The title alludes to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice which we know features a man going to Hades to get his loved one back from death but, I imagined this is how Wilhelm compares himself to Orpheus with Luciana being his Eurydice, his attempts to keep her alive while she is dying from tuberculosis and then in death in trying to preserve her in good condition while also doing his work to try and bring her back. You see his delusion when he writes about feeling her heartbeat but also thinking she is speaking to him.

This was originally released in October 2022, and as the author said in her author's note that the question at the centre of this book is who owns a women's body which in these recent times is very relevant, we see Wilhelm Von Tore and Luciana's family fighting over her remains being a great way to look at this question. The timeline is slightly different from the real life case as Elena Millagro de Hoyos died in 1931 and Luciana's family fled from Castro's Cuba who came to power in 1959. The story follows the real case beat for beat mostly. Honestly I felt for Luciana's family as they went from having a privileged life in Cuba to losing a two family members one being a child, losing status before having to leave for America settling in Florida, going from being wealthy to quite poor and also dealing with the racism and prejudices people have against Cubans and non whites. You see examples of this first when one of the brothers is marked as I thief even though it was his white friends who stole and he was just there with them also when Luciana is buried Wilhelm has the grave marker with his surname claiming her as his wife. The family trying to correct this are treated quite badly by the clerk who also makes threat of getting police involved. You get a feeling that Von Tore gets away with most of his acts because he is white and the Herrera Madrigals are not but also the staining of one brother being accused of thievery and also Luciana being considered a loose woman.

Wilhelm's obsession and need to possess Luciana not allowing her to stay buried first having her put in a tomb using the pretense of them being  married then later stealing her body and doing his attempts to preserve her but trying to bring her back but just feel like his delusions talking he also gets a dog to keep guard and generally frightened people away so as not to discover his twisted home life but a storm will cause it all to be discovered but also the dog dies by drowning in the flood 😢.

What I find interesting is how people sympathise with Wilhelm mostly women but also some who believe in his work of bringing the dead back to life. We have seen people in the real world do this with criminals idolising and feeling a sympathy toward them which is really hard to understand, also hard to read in when Luciana is put on display by the morticians after her body is retrieved from Wilhelm. People paying to gawped at her for money done without the permission of her family who just want her to have her rest. We know that people today would probably do this today as they is a fascination with the macarbe and bizarre.

The author's note tales of the true story but also other examples of violation of corpses such as Anatoly Moskvin who made dolls of girls and woman corpses, a case of men in stealing female corpses to do the Chinese practice of ghost marriage and the stealing of a woman's corpse that has not been solved.

Like I said this was a great read, dark and challenging but also gives a lot to think about.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Carl Tanzler the basis for the character of Wilhelm Von Tore.

Elena Milagro de Hoyos the basis for Luciana Herrera Madrigal.Pictured in life.