My Yucatan Read: 'The Daughter of Doctor Moreau' by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau (2022) is another visceral, intriguing historical tale by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the author of Mexican Gothic and Gods of Jade and Shadows (click on titles to read my reviews of those amazing works).  I take a certain delight in selecting a special novel to read during each of my vacations, and I’m tickled at having devoured this novel while actually present on the Yucatan peninsula. I listened to Gods of Jade and Shadows again before going, as well, as it’s also set in the Yucatan and would be my pick of the two for anyone going to tour Mayan ruins—just for inspiration, not for comprehensive facts, though terms like Xibalba (the Mayan underworld), city names like Merida, etc. will help familiarize folks to the region.  No doubt her novels put me in mind of going to Mexico in the first place; we’re not really so very far away in Savannah, GA, which is further south (by latitude) than some Mexican cities, to my astonishment!

Carlota Moreau is the daughter of an eccentric researcher who lives in the Yucatan jungle, secluded from almost everyone except the staff and residents of their hacienda.  This docile, graceful, beautiful young woman loves and has faith in her European father and his hybrid research. She’s infinitely content to stay at Yaxaktun, but that may not be possible for much longer. 

The story switches perspectives between Carlota and Montgomery, the flawed overseer of the estate.  His rough-and-ready, jaded viewpoint drew me in, reminiscent of an old Western, not that I have read many of those!  It worked well here, though, a rather unique combination that Moreno-Garcia has created for us.  I kept imagining a somewhat-younger Daniel Craig in his role.  As hopeless as Montgomery is about life, and for all his bad habits, he has my respect by the end.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot, as the author works in surprises from the beginning. She actually did manage to ‘catch’ me with them early on—whereas I guessed the big twist at the end of the novel 😉.  However, this story took more work than her other novels to get into—as she brings up loads of character names without preamble, treating it all like a mystery, as if she’s dropping clues for you to figure out, but it’s disconcerting at first.  Stick with it, though, and you’ll be glad you did (if you’re anything like me).

While Moreno-Garcia’s story is not focused overly much on the historical surroundings, she did help me to understand about the Mayan uprisings of the time (the novel begins in 1871), of the caste issues of the region, etc.  One reviewer calls Moreno-Garcia a ‘virtuoso of the anti-imperialist gothic novel’, to which I nod in agreement, though I should add that so far there is always, at some point, a rather grotesque element to her stories. This Mexican-Canadian author already ranks among my favorites, and this book is worthy of accompanying her other novels on my bookshelf or e-reader, as the case may be.