The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a 2022 novel by Mexican Canadian author Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The novel reimagines some plot and thematic elements drawn from The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) by H. G. Wells. Moreno-Garcia’s novel also combines aspects of historical fiction, science fiction, and the gothic. By transposing some of Wells’s plot elements to 19th-century Mexico, Moreno-Garcia explores themes of desire, colonialism, and power and oppression.

This guide references the 2022 Random House edition of the text.

Content Warning: Characters in the novel use outdated terminology to refer to the Indigenous Mayan people. This guide also references alcohol addiction, physical violence (including gun violence), and suicidal ideation.

Plot Summary

The novel is set on the Yucatán Peninsula, a region of Mexico, in the 1870s. Doctor Moreau is a French man who emigrated to Mexico; he lives on a remote estate called Yaxaktun, which is owned by a wealthy man named Hernando Lizalde. Doctor Moreau has a daughter named Carlota; she initially believes that her mother was a Mexican woman who died shortly after giving birth. Doctor Moreau is a scientist who conducts experiments and creates “hybrids”: creatures developed out of a fusion of animal and human matter.