Francesca Peacock

Making the fur fly: Mary and the Rabbit Dream, by Noémi Kiss-Deáki

When a poor peasant named Mary Toft claimed to have given birth to 17 rabbits, many in Georgian Britain believed her, including senior members of the medical profession

Mary Toft giving birth to 17 rabbits, in a colourised etching by William Hogarth, 1726. [Alamy] 
issue 27 July 2024
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  • Mary and the Rabbit Dream

    Noémi Kiss-Deáki

    Galley Beggar Press, pp. 288, £10

Mary Toft seems to be having something of a moment. The English 18th-century peasant who stunned society with her claim to have given birth to rabbits has been the focus of a suite of recent books, including Dexter Palmer’s Mary Toft, or the Rabbit Queen (2019) and Karen Harvey’s The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder (2020).

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