Try free for 30 days
-
Story of a Murder
- The Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen’s Crime of the Century
- Length: Not Yet Known
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Story of a Murder
Pre-order for $42.54
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
This is the story of a murder, not a murderer ...
Throughout the 20th century, the infamous 'Crippen murder' was told in such a way as to cast doubt on Crippen's guilt and to victim-blame his wife Cora, a music hall actress, for her own murder. It also astonishingly depicted Crippen's younger mistress Ethel as innocent of any involvement in the killing of her love rival.
Not so, says Rubenhold. In fact, Ethel got away with murder, and the same Edwardian beliefs about women that demonised his wife also blinded society to Ethel's guilt.
By telling the story through the women's eyes, we see clearly who this lying, deceitful, misogynistic criminal doctor was. He was not 'the mild-mannered murderer' as everyone from Raymond Chandler to Dorothy Sayers has suggested, but a dead-eyed, unrepentant killer.
STORY OF A MURDER is a grand experiment in subverting a famous history. With a galloping narrative at its centre, it explores the late Victorian and Edwardian era, class aspiration, the transatlantic world and the incredible period of social revolution for women.