"If she escaped the death penalty for her daughter's murder she might face a second trial for murdering her mother"
By sally tarbox on 16 September 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
Quite an interesting read, looking at Victorian murderess Elizabeth Berry. Intelligent and with grand aspirations, she nonetheless was unable to escape her humble origins - from working in a mill, she became a nurse, but only in a workhouse. Her marriage to a relatively lowly man didn't provide the lifestyle she craved - and produced three children to boot.
The tale begins when Elizabeth - by now a widow, and with just one surviving child - is a senior nurse, and invites the 11 year old daughter to stay for a few days. After a few days fun, the girl becomes violently ill, her lips strangely blistered, and the doctors suspect poison...
Her late mother is exhumed as part of the investigation (Elizabeth received a large insurance payout on her equally sudden demise) and suspicions arose on her dead husband and other children...
A thrilling tale, just a tad repetitive during the court cases, where the often identical witness statements were repeated many times - the suspect's excuse for the deceased's burnt lips as caused be a citrus fruit she sucked, being put forth innumerable times. ( )

This is quite a short book, and a relatively light (given the subject matter), easy read.

Elizabeth Berry was hanged at the age of 31, for the murder of her eleven-year-old daughter. An inquest also found her guilty of murdering her mother - it's possible that she also murdered her husband and both of her other children, all by poison.

This books is written in a rather sensational style, and includes details (e.g. weather, what people were thinking) that I doubt was available in the historical record. However, it does make the read go faster - more like a thriller than non-fiction.

I don't know how good the author's research was, but if his quotes and other facts are even mostly correct, then this is actually a pretty good book for someone who either a) wants to know more about Elizabeth Berry or b) wants an easy-reading introduction to Victorian murder cases.

In some ways, what's just as interesting as the main 'story' about Berry herself (and putting together what might be a modern psychiatric diagnosis), is the surrounding detail about the social setting which provided the circumstances for the crime: the custom of insuring children's lives (to pay the funeral expenses); the relative ease of - at that time - getting away with murder-by-poison due to lack of forensic scientific knowledge; the lack of a social security system meaning that even without an insurance payout, getting rid of a child would at least remove a financial burden.

There isn't any real depth here - but if you're looking for an interesting, fast-moving read that doesn't require much in the way of intellectual effort, it's a good read. ( )