Scan barcode
A review by maplessence
So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme and the Murder that Shocked the World by Peter Graham
4.0
I have to be honest & say that Pauline Parker & Juliet Hulme must have been two of the most arrogant, conceited, affected & straight out unlikeable teenagers ever to walk on this planet. Juliet Hulme did also have equally unlikeable (&, in the case of her father, uncaring) parents & Pauline's father appears to have been very distant with his children. It is certainly ironic that the only parent who made any attempt to actually parent was seen as the obstacle in the way of Juliet & Pauline's naive dreams of Hollywood stardom.
So they decided to kill her.
Honorah Rieper (as she was known when alive - after her death it was discovered that she & Bert Rieper had never married) died a horrible, brutal death. Both girls took part in the killing with extreme enthusiasm (in spite of Hulme's later self serving denials) & still appeared to think they were "so brilliantly clever" even after their arrests. They were both found sane enough to stand trial, convicted & served 5 years in prison.
After their release (from separate prisons) they changed their names (in Hulme's case twice) & disappeared. Proving that truth can be stranger than fiction Hulme became successful murder mystery writer Anne Perry. Being "outed" may have even helped her career. Parker is believed to have been remorseful in later years, but has never agreed to be interviewed.
A fascinating story, but it is let down in the 2011 Awa Press edition by typos, missing commas & repeated words. A shame as Graham writes well - he just needed a better proof reader.
Another fault is Graham repeats the rumour that Hilda Hulme had their gardener destroy Juliet's diary. It is a reasonable assumption that Juliet kept a journal - Pauline did & Graham quotes extensively from it - but there is no proof!
A book that will give me nightmares for days to come!
So they decided to kill her.
Honorah Rieper (as she was known when alive - after her death it was discovered that she & Bert Rieper had never married) died a horrible, brutal death. Both girls took part in the killing with extreme enthusiasm (in spite of Hulme's later self serving denials) & still appeared to think they were "so brilliantly clever" even after their arrests. They were both found sane enough to stand trial, convicted & served 5 years in prison.
After their release (from separate prisons) they changed their names (in Hulme's case twice) & disappeared. Proving that truth can be stranger than fiction Hulme became successful murder mystery writer Anne Perry. Being "outed" may have even helped her career. Parker is believed to have been remorseful in later years, but has never agreed to be interviewed.
A fascinating story, but it is let down in the 2011 Awa Press edition by typos, missing commas & repeated words. A shame as Graham writes well - he just needed a better proof reader.
Another fault is Graham repeats the rumour that Hilda Hulme had their gardener destroy Juliet's diary. It is a reasonable assumption that Juliet kept a journal - Pauline did & Graham quotes extensively from it - but there is no proof!
A book that will give me nightmares for days to come!