An Acquaintance with Darkness

An Acquaintance with Darkness (1997), a work of young adult fiction by Ann Rinaldi, focuses concurrently on two very different themes: the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the history of medical ethics. Surprisingly, the latter theme is at the forefront of this novel, while the murder of Lincoln works to bring this era of American history to life.

It is 1865 in Washington, D.C. and the Civil War is nearing its end. With it, though, comes the inevitable death of fourteen-year-old Emily Pigbush’s mother, who is gravely ill. Emily’s mother has been clinging to life just to see the Union win the Civil War. She wants to pass along the victory to her late husband, who died defending the Union.

Emily is already preparing for a life on her own. The family servant was freed not long after her father’s death, leaving just her and her mother. With her mother’s death looming, Emily has to plan for her future. Her mother’s one mysterious request is that she never live with her uncle, Dr. Valentine Bransby.



Instead, Emily hopes to live with her best friend, sixteen-year-old Annie Surratt. The Surratt family owns a boarding house in the neighborhood, and Emily has always had a huge crush on Annie’s older brother, Johnny. When the war ends and her mother passes, Emily moves in with the Surratt family. Things seem to be looking up, even though her uncle berates her for not choosing to live with him.

On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln is shot and killed. The culprit is identified as John Wilkes Booth and a large investigation is underway. Mary Surratt, Annie’s mother, is brought in for questioning in regards to her relationship with Booth. It turns out that she was in love with him and housed him, despite being significantly older.

The entire Surratt family is deemed “evil,” and they are all considered persons of interest in the plot to assassinate Lincoln. Annie and her mother are arrested. Johnny, however, flees, but not before leaving Emily a note. He leaves her some money and tells her to come after him if his mother is in dire trouble and needs his help.



Even after Annie gets out of jail, Emily has no choice but to leave the Surratt home. Her only option is to live with her uncle. Moving in with him is a difficult adjustment; he is stern and much more authoritative than either of her parents had been. Nonetheless, he is good to Emily and provides for her. He is also laser-focused on his medical research.

During her stay, Emily quickly realizes that Uncle Valentine is an incredibly gifted doctor. He is intelligent and dedicated to saving lives at a time when medicine has to be placed on the backburner. He has a few bizarre quirks, though. An elderly patient, Addie Bassett is locked away in the house, slowly dying from the same disease that took her mother. Valentine also gets regular, unexplained shipments of ice in bulk and has a shed full of human and animal body parts for his research, which gives Emily the creeps. She can’t help but wonder – is her uncle hiding something?

Myra Mott, a classmate (and enemy) of Emily’s, starts spreading rumors about Valentine. She tells everyone that Emily’s uncle is a body snatcher. Emily writes it off as gossip until she overhears an unnerving conversation between her uncle and one of his students, Robert. They are planning a trip to Memphis to gather as many bodies of burn victims as they can after a fatal explosion.



Disgusted, Emily confronts Robert about her suspicions. Robert assures her that they do not steal dead bodies. He claims that they take victims on their last leg of life and do their best to save them. Emily believes Robert, who continues trying to earn her trust as a friend. He even travels to the prison that Mary Surratt is locked up in to negotiate more comfortable living conditions.

Emily trusts that her uncle, his assistant, Marietta, and Robert are doing the right thing until Myra exposes them once again. She gathers a group of classmates and sneaks them onto the National Medical College campus, where Valentine’s lab is. When they peer through a window, the sight of two unmistakably dead bodies, both covered in burns, shocks Emily.

Emily feels betrayed by both Valentine and her new friend. She devises a last-minute plan to use the money Johnny sent her to run away with Addie, the elderly patient for whom her uncle has been caring. On the first leg of their journey, though, a horse tramples a young girl, and a doctor is called. Robert shows up and takes Emily and Addie back home, all the while lecturing her on how irresponsible her plan was.



Emily feels terrible for not considering the implications of her actions. Had she run off with Addie, Robert reminds her, the woman could have died like her mother. She would not have had the proper medication to survive very long. Robert is also furious with Emily for not warning them about what Myra and her classmates saw. If Valentine had been caught, years of research would be at stake.

The question of morality is front and center here and it remains a major theme throughout the remainder of the novel. Valentine, Robert, and Marietta firmly believe that by stealing bodies, they are saving lives. They use the bodies as cadavers, which are hard to come by in this time period, allowing the potential for medical research that one could only dream of otherwise.

Emily is both disturbed by her uncle’s actions and in awe of the medical advancements he makes because of them. She has mixed feelings in her own moral judgment. When Marietta becomes ill, Emily begs to stand in for her on one of their body-snatching missions, hoping to finally understand for herself. She effortlessly helps the group carry out their plan, and Robert is impressed by Emily’s intelligence.



After participating in stealing a body, Emily concludes that despite the fact that they are breaking the law, it is in good conscience and with positive intentions. Therefore, she decides the questionable ethics of their actions can be disregarded; they are saving lives, not ending them. She tells Robert that she wants to be a nurse one day, and Robert proudly tells her she should be a doctor instead.

Despite pleading not guilty, Mary Surratt is sentenced to death for her involvement in Lincoln’s assassination. Johnny never shows up as he had promised, even though his mother was in the worst trouble imaginable. Annie and Emily witness her public hanging; afterward, Annie runs off to start a new life, leaving Emily behind.