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annemaries_shelves 's review for:
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer
by Kate Summerscale
This book was definitely not what I expected by the end (in a good way).
While we follow the murder of Emily Coombes and the trial of her sons as the murderers, there is so much more to their story over the years.
The author spends a lot of time giving a fascinating backstory of what late nineteenth century England was like for the poor, working class as the world continues to industrialize. We learn a lot about what working and living conditions were like, the criminal justice system in its rudimentary form, how insanity pleas and asylums work, the role of penny dreadfuls and how many influential people and organizations considered them a cause of moral degeneration, the education system, and more (that I can't reveal without some considering it a spoiler).
Kate Summerscale does a great job covering the facts in a fascinating and well-researched way. She never sensationalizes these boys and this murder, but neither does she present the story in a dry and boring manner.
By the end, I was left musing about how people can touch the lives of others in such unexpected ways and how events happen in such a way that makes one believe fate is at play. Which is never a bad way to end a book in my opinion.
Overall a solid read and definitely worth picking up if you want more contextual information to the time and history of your true crime (and not just the crime's details itself) books.
While we follow the murder of Emily Coombes and the trial of her sons as the murderers, there is so much more to their story over the years.
The author spends a lot of time giving a fascinating backstory of what late nineteenth century England was like for the poor, working class as the world continues to industrialize. We learn a lot about what working and living conditions were like, the criminal justice system in its rudimentary form, how insanity pleas and asylums work, the role of penny dreadfuls and how many influential people and organizations considered them a cause of moral degeneration, the education system, and more (that I can't reveal without some considering it a spoiler).
Kate Summerscale does a great job covering the facts in a fascinating and well-researched way. She never sensationalizes these boys and this murder, but neither does she present the story in a dry and boring manner.
By the end, I was left musing about how people can touch the lives of others in such unexpected ways and how events happen in such a way that makes one believe fate is at play. Which is never a bad way to end a book in my opinion.
Overall a solid read and definitely worth picking up if you want more contextual information to the time and history of your true crime (and not just the crime's details itself) books.