THE GIFTS, Liz Hyder's adult debut, is a spellbinding concoction of historical fiction, fantasy and mystery set in Victorian England just as science and religion are starting to take separate routes for academics, physicians and the citizens in between.

In the fall of 1840, a corpse washes ashore on the Thames. With the city’s graveyards full and its nightlife bustling, the appearance of a body is, sadly, no shock. But when a lone fisherman pulls this particular figure ashore, he spots something miraculous: sprouting from the woman’s back are a pair of downy, white wings. Instantly he knows he has something incredible and finds a well-known surgeon who may be willing to, ahem, study the body. Before long, he is a few pounds richer, and Dr. Edward Meake is in possession of the kind of discovery that will cement his reputation and preserve his name in the history books forever. But she is not the only “fallen angel” in London, and the others will not be caught so easily.

"A skilled researcher herself, Hyder makes 1840s London come to life in its slums, lavish parties, laboratories and churches. But where she truly shines is in describing the unique moment of Victorian London when science and religion smashed up against one another."

A young woman named Natalya has also just reached the shores of England. Disinherited from her family after a love affair gone wrong, Natalya knows that she will be able to find a life in the great city of London. Her cousin, another of her family’s black sheep, has carved out a living there as a tradesman. She has spent the past several months scrounging away money as a family’s hired help. Her talent for storytelling speaks to the mind of a dreamer, someone at ease with the world around her, even if she has been hurt by its inhabitants. But when she arrives in London, her cousin has long since expired as a victim of the city’s torturous workhouses.

Once again Natalya is alone, but this time in a city bigger than her wildest dreams, yet colder and crueler than her meanest relative. The stress seems enough to break her, and when she finally seeks refuge in a church, she suffers a seizure-like episode that ends with the eruption of glossy wings from her back. Luckily, Edward is nearby and assures the people around her that he will take her home and care for her.

Meanwhile, in Shropshire, a young biracial woman named Etta is suffering from the loss of her beloved pet. In the years since her father’s death, she has been cast out of his estate by her jealous half-brother and forgotten in her lonely cottage. Rather than wallowing in her situation, Etta has turned to nature and found a transcendent peace in the flora and fauna surrounding her home. She even goes so far as to study and catalog them so that she can share her findings with the men who are allowed to submit this information to academic publications and organizations.

Although Etta occasionally laments her position as a woman, the wildness she has found in nature soothes her enough that the company of her dog is able to make up for everything else she has lost: a father, an inheritance and a chance at love. When her dog is poisoned, however, her grief feels big enough to crack her in half. When it does, two gorgeous wings the color of an eagle’s sprout from her back, just in time for her to be shot down and taken captive by a hunter.

A promising but debilitatingly ambitious man always in competition with those around him, Edward has long stopped experimenting on human bodies, an accepted but frowned-upon practice in modern London, where scientific advancements are finally starting to make real change. Or so he says. Unbeknownst to his wife, Annie, who fell for him when he was only a student, Edward has long been carving up the family dogs to study their anatomy. When he brings first the deceased body and then the very alive body of two angels home with him, his ambition takes on a frantic, fanatical state. Where he was once esteemed and methodical, he has become obsessed. Because of the secrecy surrounding the “angels,” no one knows what he is up to, including Annie, whose sole focus is becoming pregnant so that she can provide him with the family he deserves. No one, that is, except Mary.

An orphan who has been more or less adopted by a couple of bachelors, Mary has always had a love of reading and researching that has gotten her into trouble more than once. Following the loss of one of her “uncles,” Mary has found herself and her remaining uncle more than a little destitute. Uncle Jos still works as a reporter, but he has taken to drinking more than reporting, and the two are barely scraping by. When a childhood friend returns to the family and whispers of fallen angels reach their ears, Mary realizes that she has a unique opportunity not only to make a name for herself, but to save the family she loves so dearly. But women are not accepted as reporters or much else besides wives and mothers. So Mary will have to use more than a few tricks to complete her investigation and figure out what Edward is hiding in his basement laboratory.

Alternating from the perspectives of Etta, Natalya, Mary and Edward, Hyder weaves a compelling blend of history, fantasy and mystery. A skilled researcher herself, she makes 1840s London come to life in its slums, lavish parties, laboratories and churches. But where she truly shines is in describing the unique moment of Victorian London when science and religion smashed up against one another. In nearly every chapter, a character (most often Edward) will remark that the pursuit of science is “God’s plan” and that knowledge brings one closer to heaven. In many instances, this provides a lovely framework for discovery, but in the case of Edward, it means a dangerous and toxic blend of ambition and religious fanaticism that turns the once meek man deadly.

But Hyder does not stop there. Her female protagonists --- wild, brilliant and uncompromising --- are never anachronistic yet fight fiercely against the roles assigned to them in Victorian London. From biracial Etta to scorned Natalya and even the more socially acceptable characters of Annie and Mary, each of them rings hauntingly, affectingly true, providing startling and timely portraits of feisty women forced to carve out lives, professions and dreams in an intensely patriarchal society.

Perfect for readers of Jess Kidd, Sarah Penner and Laurie Albanese, THE GIFTS is an unrelentingly spellbinding blend of genres, themes and mystery.