Dana Schwartz gets skin deep in ‘Anatomy: A Love Story’

At one point during our interview, Dana Schwartz points to a particular row on one of her bookshelves.

“All of that shelf is corpses and about the dawn of surgery,” Schwartz says from her Los Angeles home, a mischievous lilt in her voice. “There are some books in there with some truly gruesome illustrations.”

She goes on to call these books, and the additional research she did for her recently released novel “Anatomy: A Love Story,” a “fun gift” that, as gruesome as some of the details may have been, helped give her the confidence to write the novel.

“The more research I did, the more I realized that what I was learning was a gift, because everything I was learning was fascinating and compelling — things that I wanted to put in the book,” Schwartz says.

Yes, “Anatomy” is many things: A gothic romance set in 19th century Edinburgh, Scotland complete with understated feminist themes in the vein of Brontë and Shelley. It’s also a young adult (YA) mystery novel that sparked a bidding war among publishers and was picked for Reese Witherspoon’s book club. And it’s also a deep dive into classism and wealth gaps in the early 1800s.

But what makes “Anatomy” such a consummate book for our current moment is its emphasis on science and deductive reasoning at a time when so many seem to be happy to ignore facts out of fear or politics. At times, it works almost like a detective novel, with its chief protagonist, a young woman named Hazel, using logic to fulfill her dreams of becoming a surgeon at a time where women were not allowed.

“She’s a scientist at heart,” Schwartz says. “She’s someone who’s good at analyzing data and coming to conclusions, and I think she’s very pragmatic.”

Book cover for “Anatomy: A Love Story”

And sure, the blood, gore and gruesome depictions of grave-robbing and surgical procedures, using descriptions such as “pulled out a molar with a sickening crack” and “pulled at a few of the still-bleeding veins,” will likely be cringe-inducing for many readers. Yet, they are necessary to understanding how science was evolving around this time and why Hazel desperately wants to be part of that awakening.

“I always knew I didn’t want to shy away from the more gruesome elements of surgery,” Schwartz says. “It was very important to me to make sure everyone knew that this wasn’t just some romanticized view of the past. People are always like, ‘I want to live in the good old days,’ and I’m always saying, ‘Um, no you don’t. It was awful.’ ”

Then there’s that subtitle: “A Love Story.” Readers could think they’re in for some kind of torrid, pre-Victorian romance novel. And yes, there’s a romantic subplot between Hazel and Jack, a “resurrection man” (a rather poetic descriptor for a person who dug up fresh corpses from graveyards to sell to hospitals and doctors for dissection). Given Hazel’s affluent upbringing and Jack’s impoverished background, the story has all the elements of a forbidden romance, but Schwartz maintains that the true “love story” is one that is much more “nonspecific.”

“Hazel is falling in love with more than just a person,” Schwartz says. “It’s a love story between a girl and the rest of the world.”

And while Schwartz says she’s reluctant to use the word “historical fiction,” because readers might see it as “stuffy” and “boring,” she does seamlessly weave in descriptions of class and social statuses in 1800s Edinburgh. Both through Hazel and, more explicitly, through Jack, Schwartz says there are contemporary issues that the reader will recognize.

“The main mystery I wanted to pick at and unravel is who gets forgotten in society and for what purpose,” Schwartz says. “Obviously today, there is a huge wealth gap that continues to grow, but in the 1800s, the aristocracy made that wealth gap explicit. There was a social and cultural line, so I wanted to explore in a way that doesn’t necessarily label the characters as heroes or villains.”

Schwartz has explored these types of issues before. In addition to being an accomplished cultural and entertainment journalist, she is also the host of “Noble Blood,” a podcast started in 2019 that explores the often brutal reigns of some of history’s most notorious monarchies.

“I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words of narrative history for the show,” Schwartz says. “So I felt much more confident in the voice of the 19th century than I otherwise would have.”

It’s still easy to see her razor-sharp wit, most evidenced on her often hilarious Twitter posts, on the pages of “Anatomy” as well. She brings a sly sense of humor to an otherwise serious novel filled with gruesome elements to a point where the reader might find themselves laughing out loud mere seconds after reading about the innards of a corpse.

“I sort of began my career writing snarky things on the Internet, and I sort of gravitated towards being funny, but it was also liberating for me to write a really earnest novel,” Schwartz says. “I would not have wanted to write a novel that wasn’t funny or doesn’t have funny lines, but at the same time, I wanted to put my bleeding heart out on the page.”

Just as “Anatomy” has shot up to No. 1 on the bestselling fiction charts, Schwartz says she’s already working on a sequel to the novel. She isn’t sure if she sees “Anatomy” as being an ongoing series of novels but seems open to the idea.

“I want to take each story as it comes, and I wouldn’t want to write a book if I wasn’t genuinely excited about the story,” Schwartz says. “But right now, I have an idea for a sequel that I really want to tell and I think will be really fun. I thought this was going to be a one-off, but when I reached the ending, and I sat with that for a few months, I thought that there’s something else here.”

Mysterious Galaxy presents Dana Schwartz

When: 7 p.m. Monday (in-person event)

Where: Mysterious Galaxy, 3555 Rosecrans St., No. 107, Midway District

Tickets: Free

Online: mystgalaxy.com

Combs is a freelance writer.