The dual-narrator structure was clever and stunningly executed - if only every terrible act usually told through the lens of the ‘victor’ could have the record righted somewhat. Like girl stop being a bootlicker and skip to how y’all left Cuba because communism bad or whatever. Heather Parry has created two complete and captivating voices that will play on my mind for a long, long time’ Kylie Whitehead, author of Absorbed ‘An instant gothic classic. At times I kinda wished the Gabriela chapters were replaced with other unbiased sources of information like autopsy reports or news reports of the trial or even stuff from Luci’s pov because we never really got to know her outside of she got into trouble and then she got sick.

Interspersed with von Tore’s narration is that of Luci’s sister Gabriela, determined to challenge his version of events and hold him to account. Told from the two perspectives of Wilhem and Gabriela, their memories of Luci couldn’t be more different. Overall this was way over the top and while it did remind me of "The Daughter of Doctor Moreau", but without the finesse, strong postcolonial stance, or even suspenseful story. Based on a chilling true story, Orpheus Builds a Girl is the debut novel from award-winning author Heather Parry. I tell you it was very weird to go from reading about Wilhelm being pretty clearly a bad guy to Gabriela talking about how sad she felt at home because she couldn’t be happy with the other kids who now finally had basic necessities like shoes because her families wealth was disappearing.Set in the 1970s in Key West, Floida, a German doctor who had worked for the Nazis in his youth, Wilhelm von Tore, becomes infatuated with a young Cuban woman, Luci, who he is treating for tuberculosis. About halfway through, the switching POVs stop adding anything to the story and make things feel repetitive. These parts of the narrative are countered by the sister (Cuban immigrants) of this Nazi's future wife who he takes from her grave and revives.

But mostly he remembers his darling Luci, the great love of his life, his dark-haired beauty promised to him in a dream years before they met. As he looks back on his life he reflects on his upbringing in Dresden, his beloved grandmother and his medical career during the second world war. It is a horror novel which is very understated as there's no real scares or supernatural elements, rather the point of view of the doctor is so calm and collected that it really creeps you out how he speaks about Luci (the sick sister) and in his growing delusion the horror becomes more and more disgusting until you find yourself needing to take a break from the book. We follow the story of Wilhelm Von Tore and Luci told through the eyes of Gabriela (Luci's Sister) and I love that we get the two different perspectives to the story. Orpheus Builds a Girl is a grotesque novel based on a real life disturbing crime that happened back in the 1940s.Both of them scream Latina characters written by non Latinos and Luci especially is just the spicy Latina trope.