The Mummy! Egypt; the 1821 public unwrappings of Egyptian mummies in a theatre near Piccadilly, which she may have attended as a girl; and, very likely, the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley, "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus." As Shelley had written of Frankenstein's creation, "A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch," which may have triggered young Miss Webb's later concept. In any case, at many points she deals in greater clarity with elements from the earlier book: the loathing for the much-desired object, the immediate arrest for crime and attempt to lie one's way out
Sub Rosa (novel) award rather than for a specific work, but the jury specifically singled out "Sub Rosa" in their judging, saying, "Amber Dawn is an impressive, heart-stopping talent. Her debut novel, "Sub Rosa", is a clear-eyed myth exploring the lives of young women at risk. Both fearless in its narrative and rich in its landscape of metaphor, "Sub Rosa" is a book that refuses to be overlooked. Dawn’s story is not just an attempt to hold the world’s darkness, but to find it some comfort too." "Sub Rosa" was also presented the Lambda Award in 2011, in the “Lesbian Debut Fiction” category.