Review: Appignanesi, Trials of Passion

[truepenny]

Trials of Passion: Crimes Committed in the Name of Love and Madness by Lisa Appignanesi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


[library]

This was a very interesting book about people who committed murder for "love" in Victorian England, belle epoque France and America at the beginning of the twentieth century. (I have "love" in quotes because several of these people were what we would call stalkers, so it's NOT love.) Appignanesi starts with Christiana Edmunds (whose story is too tangled for a parenthetical aside, but involves poisoned chocolates), goes through a number of French trials, including Gabrielle Bompard (Little Demon in the City of Light), and ends with Harry K. Thaw, who shot Stanford White. Appignanesi is a very good writer and she mostly resists the temptation to overtheorize her material, so it was an enjoyable read.



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