tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10422464529219347582024-03-14T08:34:34.204+01:00The Most Remarkable Woman in EnglandInformation about the new book by John Carter Wood about the 1928 "Fetter Hill Mystery" and discussions about crime and the media in 1920s Britain.JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comBlogger207125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-56301175122693134792016-01-10T22:31:00.001+01:002016-01-10T22:38:54.504+01:00"I bought a little arsenic, he's sleeping now alright"I listened to this song tonight -- in a different version that I can't find online -- and I thought, because of its topic, it was relevant for this site (not least since it also comes from the late 1920s).<br />
<br />
(With a reminder, of course, that the woman at the heart of <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> was found <i>not</i> guilty.)<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QtWTyw95XLQ" width="459"></iframe>
<br />
"To Keep My Love Alive" (Rogers and Hart), sung by Mary TestaJCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-9960161202110549332014-10-13T21:45:00.000+02:002014-10-16T07:59:52.740+02:00Special issue: Crime StoriesThe events of the Pace case occurred within the context of inter-war British crime, media and police history, the study of which has been rapidly expanding in recent years. <br />
<br />
I am very pleased to be able to announce that a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688804.2014.949409#.VDwnpRaTCSo">special issue</a> of <i>Media History</i>
edited by myself and Paul Knepper -- "Criminality, Policing and the
Press in Inter-war European and Transatlantic Perspectives" -- has now
left the printers (which I can confirm since I received my copy today).<br />
<br />
The
four main articles (access to which will require an institutional
subscription, probably through a university) consider a variety of
topics:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p1Db4EbWkpw/VDwkB7vWkzI/AAAAAAAABMI/8LrQND0axJs/s1600/Scan_20141013.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p1Db4EbWkpw/VDwkB7vWkzI/AAAAAAAABMI/8LrQND0axJs/s1600/Scan_20141013.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a></div>
In <b>"<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688804.2014.949417?src=recsys#.VDwnxRaTCSo">Rogues of the Racecourse</a>: Racing Men and the Press in Interwar Britain"</b>, <b>Heather Shore </b>(Leeds
Metropolitan) considers the often dramatic (and sometimes violent)
world of racecourse gangs and their presentation in both the serious and
sensationalist newspaper press. (Among those gangs considered in the
article are then then-infamous Sabinis, who have featured recently in
fictional form in the hit British television show <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/3rgnlRdfWMFsMMwDXN14yW5/darby-sabini">Peaky Blinders</a>.)<br />
<br />
In <b>"<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688804.2014.949420?src=recsys#.VDwn4RaTCSo">Two Suspicious Persons</a>: Norwegian Narratives and Images of a Police Murder Case, 1926-1950"</b>, <b>Per Jørgen Ystehede</b>
(University of Oslo) takes a cross-media look at a case of police
murder that, although legendary within Norway, has yet to be given the
attention it deserves outside of that national context. Featuring stills
from the 1949 feature film based on the case (which was banned in 1952
and not shown again until 2007), the article locates the Norwegian
discourse around the case both within national and broader European
trends involving perceptions of crime.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SUv-dMP8CLI/VDwwKHHHFKI/AAAAAAAABMg/HdY3bmyoo8U/s1600/Adele%2C%2BDoomed%2BCover%2C%2BCropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SUv-dMP8CLI/VDwwKHHHFKI/AAAAAAAABMg/HdY3bmyoo8U/s1600/Adele%2C%2BDoomed%2BCover%2C%2BCropped.jpg" height="200" width="137" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_1466143737"></span><span id="goog_1466143738"></span>My own article, <b>"<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688804.2014.949421?src=recsys#.VDwn_haTCSo">The Constables and the 'Garage Girl'</a>: The Police, the Press, and the Case of Helene Adele"</b>,
considers the controversy that arose when two London Metropolitan
Police constables arrested a young woman for alleged disorder in the
summer of 1928. She accused the constables of attempting to sexually
assault her and use false charges to discredit her story, leading to a
trial (and the eventual conviction) of the two men. Placed within the
context of the period's sensationalist press and a long series of police
scandals, the case has much to say about the complexities of "human
interest" journalism in the 1920s.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bRoeTz9OWXU/VDwkLP1tntI/AAAAAAAABMQ/_kQRTDN4EY4/s1600/Scan_20141013%2B%282%29.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bRoeTz9OWXU/VDwkLP1tntI/AAAAAAAABMQ/_kQRTDN4EY4/s1600/Scan_20141013%2B(2).jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a><b>Paul Knepper</b> (University of Sheffield), in <b>"<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688804.2014.949428?src=recsys#.VDwoGRaTCSo">International Criminals</a>: The League of Nations, the Traffic in Women and the Press"</b>, explores one
of the lesser known aspects of the League's activities in the inter-war
period: the campaign against the traffic in women (previously known as
"white slavery"). An important stage in the evolution of the modern
language of "human trafficking", the League's investigations and reports
were not only given widespread coverage but served as an important
justification for the international organisation's existence.<br />
<br />
In addition, Paul and I present an <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688804.2014.949409?src=recsys#.VDwodRaTCSo">introductory essay</a>
(access to this is FREE) that explores some European and transatlantic
contexts of recent crime-and-media historiography, which has--certainly
for the inter-war period--become a very active field in recent years.<br />
<br />
The
special issue had its origins in a session of the 2012 European Social
Science History Conference in Glasgow that I organised, though there
have been a few twists and turns since then.<br />
<br />
It has
been a great experience to work with such talented colleagues who are,
truly, not only engaged in some fascinating research but also capable of
framing their work in clear and vivid language.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, it was a very positive experience working with <i>Media History</i>, and we are all quite happy with the result.<br />
<br />
Should anyone be interested in a copy of these essays but <i>not </i>have access to them through their institution, please do contact me. (Drafts of the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/7825567/Crime_Stories_Criminality_Policing_and_the_Press_in_Inter-war_European_and_Transatlantic_Perspectives">introductory essay</a> and <a href="https://www.academia.edu/7801211/The_Constables_and_the_Garage_Girl_The_Police_the_Press_and_the_Case_of_Helene_Adele">my own article</a> are available via my academia.edu page).<br />
<br />
[Cross-posted at <a href="http://obscenedesserts.blogspot.de/2014/10/special-journal-issue-crime-stories.html"><i>Obscene Desserts</i></a>] JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-38099604854026652192014-07-28T22:05:00.002+02:002014-07-28T22:05:34.018+02:00"Quite simply an absorbing read"The June issue of the <i>English Historical Review</i> contains <a href="http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/content/129/538/756.extract">a very fine review</a> of <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England </i>which is all the more enjoyable because it was written by <a href="http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=29456">Adrian Bingham</a>,
who is not only one of the leading historians of the twentieth-century
British press but also someone whose own work influenced my approach to some
of the topics in my book on the Pace murder trial.<br />
<br />
I'm
particularly pleased by the review as it is attentive to a difficult
problem with which I wrestled throughout the more than five years I
spent researching and writing the book: how to combine an exciting story
that would appeal to as broad an audience as possible (essentially <i>anyone</i>
who is interested in real-life human drama and not overly averse to
endnotes) while also maintaining enough academic street cred for my
professional historian peers to still take it seriously.<br />
<br />
Or, as Bingham puts it in his review: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What
is the best way for academic historians to broaden their audience? How
should they reach out to the much-sought-after ‘general reader’? One
option (the Niall Ferguson or Simon Schama route) is to produce bold
grand narratives and dazzle the public with new ways of looking at the
‘big picture’. An alternative, pursued here by John Carter Wood, is to
narrow the scale, and to focus upon a dramatic human story, which can
then be used to illuminate the period in question.</blockquote>
<br />
Happily, he finds that I have succeeded in this effort: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The
spectacular success of Kate Summerscale’s The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
(2009), based on a murder mystery that unfolded in Wiltshire in 1860,
seems to have created a demand for real-life historical detective
stories, and <b>Wood has produced a pacy, scholarly and thought-provoking contribution to the genre.</b> ...<br />
<br />
Although this book is clearly designed to appeal beyond the academy, it will be of interest to scholars.... <b>Firstly,
it is quite simply an absorbing read. The case itself is a fascinating
one, and Wood does it full justice. He writes crisply and vividly, and
shows a real empathy for his protagonists, teasing out the likely
motivations for their actions.... He has clearly learned well from the
crime novelists, such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, who so
entertained the British public in the 1920s.</b></blockquote>
<br />
At
the end, Bingham raises a potential problem that was always on my mind
(and which plagued my efforts to publish the book until I made contact
with the wonderful people at Manchester University Press): <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
There
is a danger that books like this may fall between two stools. Wood is
far more measured in his approach than a writer such as Summerscale, and
he is too scrupulous a historian to let his imagination take him
further than the evidence allows in order to entertain the reader. At
the same time, some of those working in the field would undoubtedly have
been interested in seeing some of the underlying themes developed
further. </blockquote>
<br />
However, there's a very happy ending: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On its own terms, though, <b>as a forensic historical examination of one of the decade’s most intriguing murder cases, this is an undoubted success</b>. I hope it gets the wider readership it deserves.</blockquote>
<br />
It goes without saying, I suppose, that <i>I </i>do too.<br />
<br />
I've had a <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/reviews">fairly detailed look at reviews of the book</a> at this blog, and there is also a shorter and more concise <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/p/reviews.html">reviews page</a> if you just want to skim all the nice things that people have been saying about it.<br />
<br />
And if you feel so inclined, please do order <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> from your local bookstore, from <a href="http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780719086182">Manchester University Press</a> or from the online retailer of your choice.<br />
<br />
Rumour has it that you may be glad you did. <br />
<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-39779125804293845942014-05-09T14:56:00.000+02:002014-05-09T15:07:31.394+02:00"A murder mystery that captivated the nation"Academic reviews, by nature, take a little while to start appearing.<br />
<br />
I've already noted <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/2013/09/academic-reviews-roundup.html">a few reviews</a> from history journals of my last book, <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England: Poison, Celebrity and the Trials of Beatrice Pace</i> which appeared at the end of last year. I've just noted that two others have appeared.<br />
<br />
Happily, they both say very nice things about the book, though they focus on different things.<br />
<br />
In <i>Women's History Review</i>, a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09612025.2013.846121#.U2zOj1fNn-c">review</a> by Caitriona Clear is currently appearing as 'advance access' online (meaning that it hasn't yet appeared in the print version).<br />
<br />
Clear focuses on, and largely summarises, the dramatic story aspects of the Pace case. She calls the book a 'page-turner' and observes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In telling this story, [Wood] references all the main authorities and rehearses all the arguments of gender history and British social history in the inter-war period. <b>He does this so skilfully that there is no sense of being dragged away from the scene of the crime to listen to teacher.</b> Nor does he shy away from speculating about what really happened to Harry Pace. </blockquote>
<br />
Clear, however, finds my suggestion that Harry Pace may have killed himself via arsenic poisoning to be 'baffling'.<br />
<br />
My actual argument about Harry's death is a bit different than she describes; however, this is one of those things where I would definitely encourage people to read the book and make up their own minds.<br />
<br />
In the <a href="http://cmc.sagepub.com/content/10/1.toc">current issue</a> of <i>Crime, Media, Culture</i>, Lucy Williams (who is herself a specialist on the history of <a href="http://waywardwomen.wordpress.com/">women and crime</a>) writes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
John Carter Wood's <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> may at first seem little more than historical coverage of a real-life whodunit mystery, but this impressive scholarly work quickly shows the trial of Beatrice Pace to be a landmark court case--socially, culturally, and legally. ...<br />
<br />
<b>In a fascinating display of meticulously collected evidence, Wood at first draws the reader in to ask 'who killed Harry Pace?', but the real triumph of this book is the seamless way in which the author unravels the social and cultural impact of the case as the evidence and hearsay surrounding the murder mounted.</b><br />
<br />
Quickly, <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> becomes not about the guilt or innocence of Beatrice Pace in the death of her husband, but a series of more complex questions for the reader to consider. These relate both to situating the case as a product of its time and in thus reading its significance, and also in evaluating the role which the media played in constructing well-defined personae for both harry and Beatrice Pace, as well as the extent to which this influenced public reaction to the trial. ...<br />
<br />
In analysing the Pace case, John Carter Wood offers an in-depth exploration of attitudes towards inter-war crime, gender, media sensation and criminal justice, and at the same time delivers a comprehensive overview of a murder mystery that captivated the nation. </blockquote>
<br />
Many thanks to both reviewers for the careful readings and positive verdicts.<br />
<br />
A complete list of reviews <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/p/reviews.html">can be found here</a>. JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-50873502485641549502014-02-01T20:56:00.004+01:002014-02-01T20:56:46.218+01:00Own a piece of Pace-case history...for only about £3 millionIt has been announced that Gloucester Prison is now up for sale.<br />
<br />
As the Gloucester <i>Citizen</i> <a href="http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Gloucester-Prison-goes-market-attract-seven/story-20539113-detail/story.html">reported today</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As a 3.5-acre brownfield site it could be worth more than £3million but
its unique character could drive the price down – 122 bodies lie beneath
it and its uses could be constrained by its history.<br />
<br />
The Debtors’ Prison became a cell block on the west side and is Grade II listed, meaning the interior is protected too.<br />
<br />
The oldest part, which retains features from the 1791 prison, is also listed.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Among other illustrious guests, Beatrice Pace was held in the prison during her trial in Gloucester in July 1928.<br />
<br />
Here is an aerial image of the prison, coincidentally also taken in 1928, which also shows the Shire Hall, where the trial was held.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6fru71wo_pk/Uu1QeVkn3mI/AAAAAAAABJ8/iuQNhOVBJOU/s1600/Gloucester+Prison+from+the+Air+1928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6fru71wo_pk/Uu1QeVkn3mI/AAAAAAAABJ8/iuQNhOVBJOU/s1600/Gloucester+Prison+from+the+Air+1928.jpg" height="275" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/download/EPW024168">Source: Britain from Above</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's certainly a rather different way of getting on the property ladder.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-47654513986422388332013-12-21T06:00:00.000+01:002013-12-21T06:00:05.939+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 12Concluding my <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/Twelve%20Reviews%20of%20Christmas">pre-Christmas round-up</a> of reviews of my book over the past year or so...<br />
<br />
There has been no particular ranking of the reviews in this list; however, the excellent review <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England </i>received <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/26/most-remarkable-woman-john-carter-wood-review">from Tessa Hadley at the <i>Guardian</i></a> is one of my favourites.<br />
<br />
This is not only because it was a particularly high profile positive review, but also because Hadley praised precisely some of the things that worked very hard to achieve in the book, such as capturing both a sense of drama and the authentic details of the language used by various figures in the case.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bNVnzHrxl-o/UrINoZruEsI/AAAAAAAABJo/RIBaqY8HJu0/s1600/Shire-Hall-Gloucester---B-008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bNVnzHrxl-o/UrINoZruEsI/AAAAAAAABJo/RIBaqY8HJu0/s1600/Shire-Hall-Gloucester---B-008.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The image of the crowd outside the Pace trial used in the <i>Guardian </i>review</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It really is hard for me to imagine a better opening line to a review of my book: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'<b>Sometimes life is better than fiction</b>.'</blockquote>
<br />
I mean...really. That's a great start.<br />
<br />
And then it just gets better from there:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'<b>Is there any novelist who could
have got this extraordinary story so perfectly right, inventing it: the
violence at the heart of it, the suspense, the succession of
revelations, the passions so raw and inchoate that they have a mythic
force?</b> And then there's the grand sweep of the narrative, beginning in
the bleak poverty of an obscure cottage in the Forest of Dean, acted out
finally on the national stage. [...] John Carter Wood's book about the
Pace trial works
because of his sober and scrupulous assembly of the evidence, quoting
the words that were spoken and written at the time so we can feel the
textures of the material for ourselves – <b>the found poetry of precise
reportage</b>.' </blockquote>
<br />
The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/26/most-remarkable-woman-john-carter-wood-review">rest of the review</a> is very well worth reading.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it -- or the <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/Twelve%20Reviews%20of%20Christmas">other reviews that I've considered in this series</a> -- will convince you to take a closer look at <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i>.<br />
<br />
And whether you do or don't: Merry Christmas!<br />
<br />
JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-11738476476951523032013-12-20T14:00:00.000+01:002013-12-20T14:00:01.003+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 11One of the highlights of the period shortly after the publication of <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> last year was being interviewed on BBC Radio 4's venerable show '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman%27s_Hour">Woman's Hour</a>'.<br />
<i></i><br />
I had never previously been interviewed on radio before (though there were several years in an earlier life when I had radio shows of my own on minor, local stations, but that's another story).<br />
<br />
Moreover, it was certainly exciting to actually enter what has long been one of my favourite buildings in London: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasting_House">Broadcasting House</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DYfcNWATzOg/UrIEZreT-9I/AAAAAAAABJQ/F1rD5pHWVH0/s1600/P1020182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DYfcNWATzOg/UrIEZreT-9I/AAAAAAAABJQ/F1rD5pHWVH0/s1600/P1020182.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Although there had been some preparatory discussion with the show's producers about possible topics, I went into the interview with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenni_Murray">Jenni Murray</a> without really knowing what I would be asked.<br />
<br />
So I was certainly fairly keyed up when I got into the studio.<br />
<br />
Jenni Murray, though, is a very skilled interviewer: although she makes it seem easy, she manages to ask very well crafted questions and to subtly shape the discussion.<br />
<br />
As interviewee, I had the sense of being offered a very well-defined space to fill. This all helped me to stay succinct and not begin endlessly waffling on, as is occasionally...well, OK, <i>often</i>...my wont.<br />
<br />
As to the interview, you can judge for yourself: my segment is still available <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zwqmd">from the BBC Radio 4 website</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-axIzkLSmCM4/UrIEpkggoNI/AAAAAAAABJY/s41svTE5IEQ/s1600/P1020184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-axIzkLSmCM4/UrIEpkggoNI/AAAAAAAABJY/s41svTE5IEQ/s1600/P1020184.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In the brief period of time we had to chat after the interview, Jenni said some very nice things to me about the book. I asked later whether she might be willing to make a public summary of those statements, and she agreed.<br />
<br />
So, she described <i>The Most Remarkable Woman</i> as:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'A fascinating analysis of one woman's domestic disaster, the power of the press and public opinion. Loved it!' </blockquote>
<br />
The whole experience was very rewarding (also for getting the chance to chat with Martha Wainwright who gave a live performance on that show); the same can be said about <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/2013/03/radio-interview-bbc-gloucestershire.html">my second BBC interview</a>, with Anna King for BBC Radio Gloucestershire.<br />
<br />
Sadly, though, that one <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014w34t">is no longer online</a>.<br />
<br />
So if you can't quite get enough of hearing my voice, I suppose you're out of luck.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-10085024371171512172013-12-20T10:00:00.000+01:002013-12-20T10:00:10.480+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 10Continuing my <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/Twelve%20Reviews%20of%20Christmas">pre-Christmas round-up</a> of reviews of my book over the past year... <br />
<br />
Another one of the more academic reviews of <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England </i>appeared at the open-access crime history journal <a href="http://www.pbs.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/hjournal2013Vol3p2.html"><i>Law, Crime and History</i></a>.<br />
<br />
There, Tony Ward opened his review of my book with a striking comparison to a television crime drama:<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I started reading this book on the evening when the TV crime drama
Broadchurch reached its finale, and the parallels are readily apparent: a
suspicious death in a small community brings family conflicts to the
surface, rumours abound, an arrogant policeman from London comes to
investigate, the national press scent a good story, and the family of
the deceased find themselves briefly famous. </blockquote>
<br />
Ward concludes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> is a scholarly book and Wood
resists any temptation to ‘solve’ the case, though he argues that the
suicide theory was plausible and Beatrice was rightly acquitted. He
urges historians to take ‘into account both those women who were
demonised by the public and unfairly condemned and those who received
public support and were – all things considered – treated fairly’ (195).
In this respect <b>his work usefully complements studies of women convicted of murder</b>,
such as Anette Balinger’s Dead Woman Walking (2000). But if one sees
early twentieth century murder trials as a kind of morality play in
which the moral invariably serves to reinforce the subordination of
women, Beatrice Pace’s trial fits the mould as well as any of those that
sent women to the gallows. -- <i>Law, Crime and History</i>, 3.2 (2013), 193-94. (<a href="http://www.pbs.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/journal/Vol.3%20issue2%202013/Carter%20Wood%20Review%20of%20Rowbotham%20et%20al,%20Shame,%20Blame%20and%20Culpability.pdf">PDF version of the full review</a>)</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-7896089138208645232013-12-19T09:00:00.000+01:002013-12-19T09:45:55.338+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 9Continuing my <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/Twelve%20Reviews%20of%20Christmas">pre-Christmas round-up</a> of reviews of my book over the past year... <br />
<br />
The issue of attitudes toward gender in the 1920s is a central issue in <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i>, hence it's been gratifying to see the book receiving positive comments from historians experienced in that field. <br />
<br />
At <i>Gender & History</i>, Gwyneth Nair (co-author of a book on the Victorian poisoning murder trial of <span class="st">Madeleine Smith) </span>thought that the book could
have emphasised analysis more than narrative, and she suggests that I might have made
more comparisons of the Pace case with even more trials of women than I
do.<br />
<br />
Nonetheless, she concludes that <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England </i>is<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'<b>a
thoughtful, readable account of an intriguing case, and has valuable
things to say about the nature of interwar English society</b>.' (<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0424.12024_7/abstract"><i>Gender & History</i></a>, 25.2 (2013), 385-86.)</blockquote>
<br />
I hope to have more to say about the issue of inter-war gender, as I'm currently reading Lucy Bland's fascinating book <i>Modern Women on Trial</i>.<br />
<br />
We'll see how the Christmas season goes, time-wise....<br />
<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-61491344433430004482013-12-18T15:00:00.000+01:002013-12-18T15:00:07.169+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 8.Among the various academic reviews that have appeared of <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i>, that by Matthew Houlbrook was especially nice:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What became known as the ‘Fetter Hill mystery’ was one of the most
sensational criminal cases of the 1920s. Then ‘still relatively new’,
the media frenzy that surrounded Beatrice Pace allows John Carter Wood
to tease out <b>an engaging and suggestive analysis of the relationship between crime, culture, and politics in a formative historical period</b> (5). <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> draws on <b>an impressive body of archival research</b>:
an extensive survey of local and national newspapers, records of
courts, coroners, and police, and (most strikingly) the hundreds of
letters Pace received from her supporters at the trial’s conclusion. The
result is <b>a rich and textured archeology of a case that unfolded as
much through new forms of mass media as the institutions of criminal
justice</b>. If the detail sometimes becomes overwhelming, <b>it is hard to imagine a more thorough account of the processes through which crime became news</b>. (<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13688804.2013.819205#.UkhLdD8kI1A"><i>Media History</i>,</a> 19.3 (2013), 391-92.) </blockquote>
<br />
I've never met Matthew, but he's the author of some excellent things about crime, media and sexuality in early twentieth-century Britain, so he knows whereof he speaks.<br />
<br />
JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-14815698652829253792013-12-17T19:38:00.002+01:002013-12-17T19:38:23.325+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 7Among the positive reviews <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> received was one in the <i>Literary Review</i> from historian <a href="http://www.dominicsandbrook.com/">Dominic Sandbrook</a> (probably known best recently for his books on 1970s Britain and a number of BBC television documentaries).<br />
<br />
There is no version of it online, however, I have a few excerpts below. <br />
<br />
Among other things Sandbrook observes: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Today, of course, Beatrice Pace is almost completely forgotten. It is to John Carter Wood’s credit, therefore, that in <b>this splendid piece of historical detective work</b>
he not only brings her story alive but casts new light on the life of
England in the 1920s, a land desperate to return to normality after the
First World War, but terrified of the demons lurking in the attic. <br />
[...]<br />
<b>Like Kate Summerscale’s prizewinning book <i>The Suspicions of Mr Whicher</i>,</b>
Wood’s account is an engrossing exercise in historical reconstruction,
slowly peeling back layer upon layer of the story of Harry and Beatrice
Pace. <br />
[...]<br />
Wood’s achievement is to use the case to explore the troubled world of
the mid-1920s, a period when, as the Daily Herald remarked, <b>‘nine people
out of ten follow the meagre official details and the billowing
rumours of an actual murder mystery more eagerly and breathlessly than
the most devoted detective “fan.”’</b> <br />
[...]<br />
Wood thinks the jury came to the right verdict, though it is a measure of his <b>immaculately researched, fluently written and utterly compelling book</b>
that he allows readers to come to their own conclusions. For my own
part, I rather think there was more to Beatrice Pace than met the eye.
Who really killed Harry Pace? You had better read the book and decide
for yourself.</blockquote>
<br />
'Decide for yourself.' Hmm. Sounds about right.<br />
<br />
And I <i>believe</i> there is a holiday coming. <br />
<br />
(Quotes from the Dec-Jan 2012/13 issue of the <i>Literary Review</i>.)JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-52810074643764175022013-12-13T09:00:00.000+01:002013-12-13T09:00:19.257+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 6Continuing my <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/Twelve%20Reviews%20of%20Christmas">pre-Christmas round-up</a> of reviews of my book over the past year...<br />
<br />
A couple of very positive things were said about the book even <i>before </i>it was actually published: in the 'blurbs' that were gained by sending out a pre-publication version of the main text to a couple of experts in the field.<br />
<br />
So, while they're not technically 'reviews' they certainly have review-like qualities and, in a spirit of Christmas generosity, can be included here.<br />
<br />
The two back-of-the-book blurbs we succeeded in getting were from two renowned historians, Clive Emsley (Professor Emeritus of History at the Open University) and Joanna Bourke (Professor of History at Birkbeck College). <br />
<br />
I happened to meet Joanna for the first time in 2007 when I was actually giving one of the very first conference papers based upon my then still quite early research into the Pace murder trial. She was enthusiastic about the story from the beginning, becoming one of the many people who were very encouraging along the (long) way from the start of the project to publication. <br />
<br />
For her blurb, she wrote: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'This is history as murder-mystery. John Carter Wood tells a
spellbinding story of murder, using the trials of the accused (Beatrice
Pace) to reflect the nature of celebrity culture, the legal system, and
gender relations in 1920s Britain. The fundamental question remains: did
Beatrice Pace kill her husband? You will have to read the book to find
out!' </blockquote>
<br />
For anyone interested in crime and policing history, Clive of course needs no introduction. (You can find a review of his latest book -- on the history of crime and the British military -- <a href="http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1506">here</a>.) And he also said some characteristically kind things about my book: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'The trial of Beatrice Pace was one of the most sensational news stories
in inter-war Britain. In this thoroughly researched and clearly-argued
study, John Carter Wood is not solely concerned with the usual question
of whether or not Mrs Pace was guilty. Rather he also focuses on the
period's celebrity culture, the role of the press, the development of
public interest and the police. In so doing, he has produced a model for
modern social and cultural historians.' </blockquote>
<br />
High praise indeed from someone whose work has been influential on my own development as a historian of crime and justice.<br />
<br />
Clive also very generously gave a speech at the shared <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/2012/09/scenes-from-remarkable-book-launch.html">book launch event</a> for <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> and two other crime-history related titles from Manchester University Press last year. <br />
<br />
Seems like ages ago now, but it was only last year...JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-26820917413756177292013-12-12T18:00:00.000+01:002013-12-12T18:00:01.134+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 5Continuing my <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/Twelve%20Reviews%20of%20Christmas">pre-Christmas round-up</a> of reviews of my book over the past year...<br />
<br />
While there's something great about all positive reviews, of course, getting them from <i>friends </i>is even nicer.<br />
<br />
And it's hardly as if that's a foregone conclusion: among academics, sometimes your friends can be your <i>worst </i>critics.<br />
<br />
So it was a relief to see Andrew Hammel's <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0719086183">Amazon.co.uk review</a> not only so positive but also so clear about <i>why </i>it was positive:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Yet the Pace case was more than a headline-grabber. The long
interrogations of Mrs. Pace prompted outrage at Scotland Yard's
'third-degree' tactics, contributing to an emerging wave of civil-rights
activism in 1920s England. The trial also highlighted the binds of
economic dependence and discrimination which kept working-class women
trapped in abusive marriages. <b>John Carter Wood writes with verve and
elegance, weaving insights into the broader social ramifications of this
trial without losing the thread courtroom drama that makes the book
such a compelling read</b>. He has also done much original research,
clearing up questions that previous accounts left unanswered and
providing dozens of illustrations, some of which have come from
previously-inaccessible private archives. <b>The result is a vivid
portrayal not just of one woman's fate, but of a society in transition.
Highly recommended! </b></blockquote>
<br />
Andrew's own book -- <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0230231985"><i>Ending the Death Penalty: The European Experience in Global Perspective</i></a> -- is also 'highly recommended' if I do say so myself.<br />
<br />
As is <a href="http://andrewhammel.typepad.com/german_joys/">his blog</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-54847999756421412572013-12-11T18:00:00.000+01:002013-12-11T19:09:40.351+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 4Continuing my <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/Twelve%20Reviews%20of%20Christmas">pre-Christmas round-up</a> of reviews of my book over the past year... <br />
<br />
The shortest comment in the Twelve Reviews of Christmas appeared, appropriately enough, on Twitter not long after <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England </i>appeared.<br />
<br />
It was written by Harvard psychology professor, Steven Pinker, <a href="https://twitter.com/sapinker/status/253494570153832449">who tweeted</a>: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'A fascinating real-life murder story: John Carter Wood's The Most Remarkable Woman in England.' </blockquote>
<br />
I had had the great pleasure of being able to tell Steve (quite extensively) about the case and my research into it in person when we met <a href="http://obscenedesserts.blogspot.de/2013/04/recognition-reciprocity-and-history-of.html">at a violence history conference in Switzerland</a> the year before that.<br />
<br />
We had come to know each other starting in about 2007 via an extensive email correspondence while he was working on his bestselling book <a href="http://stevenpinker.com/publications/better-angels-our-nature"><i>The Better Angels of Our Nature</i></a>, a signed copy of which arrived here shortly after the conference. <br />
<br />
I was therefore very pleased to be able to give him a copy of <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> in return.<br />
<br />
It's not every day, after all, that your book gets recommended by one of the <a href="http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/world-thinkers-2013/#.Uqd6YuLReRM">world's leading thinkers</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-90192026599841533172013-12-10T21:01:00.001+01:002013-12-10T21:01:14.944+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 3Continuing my <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/Twelve%20Reviews%20of%20Christmas">pre-Christmas round-up</a> of reviews of my book over the past year... <br />
<br />
One of my favourite comments about the book came unexpectedly shortly before last Christmas, when crime novelist Nicola Upson selected <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> as her '<a href="http://thethoughtfox.co.uk/faber-authors-favourite-crime-reads/">favourite crime book of the year</a>':<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Just for once, my crime book of the year isn’t a novel, but a factual
account. In 1928, a quarryman called Harry Pace died of arsenic
poisoning and his wife, Beatrice, was tried for his murder. <b>John Carter
Wood’s account of the case and trial has it all: suspense; surprise; and
a searing account of one woman’s life, marriage, and journey from
poverty and obscurity to celebrity and notoriety.</b><br />
<br />
Wood is brave enough
to allow much of an incredible story to tell itself through newspaper
accounts, letters and Beatrice’s private papers, and the book is all the
richer for it. And because it’s a true story, he has no choice but to
include some of the more incredible plot elements that a novelist might
lose courage with! <b>A fascinating snapshot of interwar England,
brilliantly brought to life.</b></blockquote>
<br />
I wasn't familiar with Upson's writing before then (for a crime historian I read very little crime fiction, actually...somehow I feel it'd be a bit of a busman's holiday), but her historically set novels <a href="http://www.faber.co.uk/catalog/fear-in-the-sunlight/9780571246373">certainly sound intriguing</a>.<br />
<br />
So they're now on my list. <br />
<br />
<br />
In any case, I was (and remain) very pleased by what she had to say about my book. <br />
<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-4581487862284445092013-12-09T16:25:00.000+01:002013-12-09T16:25:38.790+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 2Continuing my <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/Twelve%20Reviews%20of%20Christmas">pre-Christmas round-up</a> of reviews of my book over the past year... <br />
<br />
One of the early reviews of <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England </i>appeared in <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/421864.article">the </a><i><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/421864.article">Times Higher Education</a> </i>(...despite their name change I still can hardly resist mentally adding '<i>Supplement</i>'...) by June Purvis.<br />
<br />
She wrote: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> is an intriguing book. It
not only raises pertinent questions about the use of “evidence” to
build a criminal case but also reveals how debates about gender roles,
domestic violence and justice for the poor erupted at one particular
cultural moment in inter-war Britain.</blockquote>
<br />
The review does a good job of summarising the main points of the case and my analysis of it, and then concludes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And so, dear reader, <i>did</i> Beatrice Pace really do it? Wood
believes the decision to acquit her was correct and that it is plausible
that Harry committed suicide in a fit of depression. But, like all good
mysteries, it is up to you to make up your own mind after carefully
reviewing the “evidence”, sometimes contradictory, presented here. This
book will be an invaluable aid to those interested in the history of
criminal justice and British society in the 1920s.</blockquote>
<br />
Yes, I must agree: I think it will! <br />
<br />
One minor quibble: Purvis wrote in the opening of the review that I became interested in the case 'nearly five decades later' (i.e., after the trial). She meant nearly <i>eight</i>, I presume: five decades after the Pace trial I was still in primary school.<br />
<br />
An easy mistake to make, and certainly forgiveable considering the positive verdict.<br />
<br />
But I feel old enough as it is, let's not make me any older.JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-89676120854440312092013-12-06T19:02:00.005+01:002013-12-09T16:23:44.351+01:00The Twelve Reviews of Christmas, part 1This is only the second Christmas season since the release of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0719086183"><i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i></a>, and I thought it an opportune time to revisit some of the very nice things that have been written and said about the book since it was published late last year.<br />
<br />
Coincidentally, a new review of the book appeared today, and since it was so thoughtful and positive, I thought I would make it the first of my (cleverly seasonally themed) feature: The Twelve Reviews of Christmas.<br />
<br />
At her blog, <i>Nose in a Book</i>, Kate Gardner <a href="http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/2013/12/06/dark-suggestions-of-extramarital-affairs-hidden-wealth-and-poisoning/">finds much to praise</a> in my history of the Pace murder trial, and I was particularly pleased that she emphasised some of those things that I had specifically aimed for in writing it.<br />
<br />
It's nice, after all, when you work very hard to achieve a certain kind of effect and then succeed.<br />
<br />
For instance, she writes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[T]his is a really well written book. ... I have tried to read a few historical books written for a popular audience and generally I’ve struggled. Even the super successful <i>The Suspicions of Mr Whicher</i>, which it’s hard not to compare this to, didn’t entirely get it right in my view.<br />
<br />
The way in which Wood does get it right is, to begin with, his identifying what it was about the case that made its players instantly famous. He has some very smart things to say about celebrity culture being tied to social and political changes, such as women’s liberation or distrust of the police force. Wood quotes extensively from original sources, which serves two purposes: you are left in no doubt as to where each fact/opinions comes from, and you get a real flavour of the time and place.</blockquote>
<br />
But perhaps my favourite comment is this one:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I know that this book worked in a narrative sense because for most of the time I was reading it I felt a prickling at the back of my neck that I only get from a good crime book, whether true or fictional.</blockquote>
<br />
That, dear reader, is high praise indeed.<br />
<br />
And -- perhaps -- it's just the thing for the crime-story fan on your Christmas list. Don't you think?<br />
<br />
After all: according to her blog, the author of this review received the book last year as a Christmas present.<br />
<br />
So, spread the joy, I say. <br />
<br />
Please do read <a href="http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/2013/12/06/dark-suggestions-of-extramarital-affairs-hidden-wealth-and-poisoning/">the rest of the review</a> at <i>Nose in a Book</i>. And, while you're there, check out the <a href="http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/category/reviews/">other reviews</a>. JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-2010464548741308132013-11-23T12:25:00.001+01:002013-11-23T12:41:54.240+01:00Generation gaps and girly menOne of the central background issues in my study of the Pace case are the changes in the ways that femininity, masculinity and marriage were seen in the inter-war period in Britain.<br />
<br />
The current issue of the <i>London Review of Books</i> has <a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n22/alan-allport/gosh-oh-gee">a fascinating review</a> by Alan Allport of a new book by Melanie Tebbutt, <cite>Being Boys: Youth, Leisure and Identity in the Interwar Years. </cite><br />
<br />
It emphasises the new opportunities for young men in the 1920s and 1930s.<br />
<br />
And also some of the new <i>challenges</i>: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Together, the cinema and the dance hall transformed courtship. Film
provided instruction in manliness and the dance hall was where young men
put what they had learned into practice. But it could be an unforgiving
venue. [...] At the approach of a 16th or
17th birthday, dancing, in the words of one young man, ‘assumed, quite
suddenly, a devastating importance, an arcane significance’. There were
just as many male as female wallflowers at the Hammersmith Palais,
self-conscious boys shuffling awkwardly at the periphery of the dance
floor.<br />
<br />
<b>Unfamiliarity with the latest dance steps was only one of
many sources of unease for the new young man. </b>As courtship moved beyond
neighbourhood circles, so appearance and deportment acquired a
heightened importance. The availability after the war of good quality
off-the-rack suits from Burton’s and Fifty Shilling Tailors created an
expectation that men would dress smartly and fashionably in public,
opening up a possibility of embarrassment hitherto unknown to
working-class men. [...] Advertising of personal hygiene
products was aimed mainly at young women, but boys were also swept up in
the new insecurity about perspiration and bad breath. <b>As working-class
men became more visibly indistinguishable from the middle class, so they
acquired all the hang-ups of embourgeoisement.</b></blockquote>
<br />
And they also became the target of a good deal of criticism from the older generation:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
With his ‘constant combing of well-oiled locks of long hair, tidy
clothes and well-kept hands and nails’, as one exasperated army physical
training instructor put it, the new teenager was <b>symptomatic of a
greater national effeminisation that was undermining Britain’s ability
to defend itself in an ever more dangerous world. </b><br />
<br />
And here lies a great
historical irony. For while at the beginning of the 21st century our
fading ‘Greatest Generation’ is lauded for its hardscrabble upbringing
and its stoic sacrifices, on the eve of the Second World War it was
being lambasted by its elders for being spoiled, self-absorbed and
dandified.<br />
<br />
‘By comparison with the French, or the Germans, for that
matter, our men for the most part seem distressingly young, not so much
in years as in self-reliance and manliness generally … they give an
impression of being callow and undeveloped,’ General Auchinleck was to
warn the war cabinet in 1940. <b>Not so long before Dunkirk, Britain’s
heroic Tommies had been its wayward youth</b>. </blockquote>
<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-29143153498599447272013-10-29T20:50:00.002+01:002013-10-29T20:50:19.701+01:00'The illusion of freedom shrouds this city of dreadful delight'<br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
Only about a decade later after the Pace case filled the sensation-hungry press--but seemingly a world away from its rural, isolated Forest of Dean setting--James Curtis published his debut novel, <i>The Gilt Kid,</i> a gritty crime thriller of London's mean streets. </div>
<br />
At <a href="http://www.londonfictions.com/james-curtis-the-gilt-kid.html">London Fictions</a>, Stefan Slater explores Curtis's dingy, dispiriting and disillusioned vision of the British capital, one that both does and doesn't sound all that distant:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://www.londonfictions.com/uploads/3/5/0/5/3505647/7425196.jpg?259" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Picture" border="0" height="200" src="http://www.londonfictions.com/uploads/3/5/0/5/3505647/7425196.jpg?259" style="max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="136" /></a><span style="font-size: small;">Suffused with an aura of decline, the Gilt Kid’s home
life is centred around the shabby gentility of his cheap furnished
lodgings in Pimlico – ‘the houses, for one thing, had been built for far
wealthier people than were living in them’ – and the cheerful vulgarity
of the environs of Victoria, a downmarket red-light district on the
wane, a step down from the Lisle Street janes, patronized by soldiers
stationed at the many local barracks and commuters. All that glitters is
not gold:<br /><br /> <i>The
market stalls in Warwick Street, which at night added a vivid gaiety to
the street scene, looked by day merely squalid. The ground around them
was littered with bits of paper and cabbage leaves. Pale,
harassed-looking women, for the most part with string-bags hanging from
their arms, stared either at the stalls or into the windows of the
cut-price shops; spinning their money out as best they could, they would
be buying cheap tinned salmon, condensed milk, hard soaplike Canadian
cheese, and salt-encrusted, badly cured Empire bacon. Those who scorned
margarine would purchase imitation imported butter at tenpence a pound.
On Saturdays they could get cheap scraps of dusty meat from the
stalls. Few, if any, ate real food. </i><br /><br />
Hardly the glam of the smash-and-grab kings Ruby Sparks and Billy
Hill. Hill has much to answer for. An imaginative man. Watch out for
Duncan Webb too. You can’t trust a journalist. Or a policeman. </span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">There's a lot more of this at <a href="http://www.londonfictions.com/james-curtis-the-gilt-kid.html">London Fictions</a> that is very worth reading. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-53971190197683527382013-09-29T18:48:00.000+02:002013-09-29T19:10:04.549+02:00Modern Women on Trial<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uS53T_aqwUU/UkhehBIWIdI/AAAAAAAABHc/Z6n7M0hADLQ/s1600/Bland,+Modern+Women+on+trial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uS53T_aqwUU/UkhehBIWIdI/AAAAAAAABHc/Z6n7M0hADLQ/s320/Bland,+Modern+Women+on+trial.jpg" width="200" /></a>I'm very pleased to draw your attention to the release of Lucy Bland's new book, <i><a href="http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780719082641">Modern Women on Trial</a>: Sexual Transgression in the Age of the Flapper</i>.<br />
<br />
I hope to get a chance to read it soon and post some comments here; however, having spoken to the author several times about the book during its later stages, I'm eagerly looking forward to it.<br />
<br />
From the Manchester University Press description: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Modern women on trial looks at several sensational trials involving
drugs, murder, adultery, miscegenation and sexual perversion in the
period 1918–24. The trials, all with young female defendants, were
presented in the media as morality tales, warning of the dangers of
sensation-seeking and sexual transgression. The book scrutinises the
trials and their coverage in the press to identify concerns about modern
femininity. The flapper later became closely associated with the
'roaring' 1920s, but in the period immediately after the Great War she
represented not only newness and hedonism, but also a frightening,
uncertain future. This figure of the modern woman was a personification
of the upheavals of the time, representing anxieties about modernity,
and instabilities of gender, class, race and national identity. This
accessible, extensively researched book will be of interest to all those
interested in social, cultural or gender history.</blockquote>
As I discuss in <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i>, when Beatrice Pace first came to the attention of the press in January 1928, was in many ways <i>not</i> the image of the 'modern woman' that proved such a magnet for comment and controversy in the 1920s. Indeed, her image as a 'traditional' woman -- a faithful, caring wife and a doting mother -- positively inflected her treatment in the press accounts surrounding the 'Fetter Hill Mystery'.<br />
<br />
However, after her acquittal, Beatrice underwent a 'makeover' of sorts, in a sense 'becoming modern' while building her 'new life' away from the shadow of the gallows.<br />
<br />
In her new book, Bland provides a broad contextual analysis of the narratives of 'modernity' that surrounded women on trial in the early 1920s. <br />
<br />
Careful readers of <i>The Most Remarkable Woman</i> <i>in England </i>will note the many citations of Lucy Bland's previous important research on images of women on trial in inter-war Britain (especially Edith Thompson and Marguerite Fahmy). This was work that I found very helpful while constructing my own analysis of the 'tragic widow of Coleford'. <br />
<br />
Not least for that reason, I'm very pleased to see the book's release, and it certainly deserves a wide readership.<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-52383310603728328472013-09-29T17:57:00.002+02:002013-09-29T17:57:56.983+02:00Academic reviews roundupAfter the slew of more popular-press reviews of and comments on <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England </i>(which were <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/p/reviews.html">resoundingly positive</a>) a few academic and specialist reviews have recently begun to appear.<br />
<br />
From the beginning, I had aimed to write a book that would <i>both </i>satisfy the specialist and fascinate the general reader. As I discovered, striking that balance is very difficult: indeed, these are imperatives that very often pull in opposite directions. (Having taken a look through the book again recently, I felt confirmed in the view that -- far more often than not -- I managed to hit the right note.)<br />
<br />
As is their nature, this first round of academic reviews are more subdued in tone, but I'm pleased to see that they have had many positive things to say about the book.<br />
<br />
For example, Matthew Houlbrook writes in <i>Media History</i>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What became known as the ‘Fetter Hill mystery’ was one of the most sensational criminal cases of the 1920s. Then ‘still relatively new’, the media frenzy that surrounded Beatrice Pace allows John Carter Wood to tease out <b>an engaging and suggestive analysis of the relationship between crime, culture, and politics in a formative historical period</b> (5). <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> draws on <b>an impressive body of archival research</b>: an extensive survey of local and national newspapers, records of courts, coroners, and police, and (most strikingly) the hundreds of letters Pace received from her supporters at the trial’s conclusion. The result is <b>a rich and textured archeology of a case that unfolded as much through new forms of mass media as the institutions of criminal justice</b>. If the detail sometimes becomes overwhelming, <b>it is hard to imagine a more thorough account of the processes through which crime became news</b>. -- <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13688804.2013.819205#.UkhLdD8kI1A"><i>Media History</i>,</a> 19.3 (2013), 391-92. </blockquote>
<br />
At <i>Gender & History</i>, Gwyneth Nair thinks that the book could have emphasised analysis more than narrative and that I might have made more comparisons of the Pace case with even more trials of women than I do. (Please see my above comments about trying to please academic and popular audiences alike.) Nonetheless, she concludes that <i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England </i>is '<b>a thoughtful, readable account of an intriguing case, and has valuable things to say about the nature of interwar English society</b>.' --<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0424.12024_7/abstract"><i>Gender & History</i></a>, 25.2 (2013), 385-86.<br />
<br />
(I should perhaps mention that one thing that Houlbrook and Nair share is the minor error of giving me a double-barrelled surname. My actual last name -- as it stands on the spine of the book -- is 'Wood'. 'Carter' is a middle name I use for publications and online to make myself easier to find among the countless other John Woods in the world...) <br />
<br />
At the open-access crime history journal <a href="http://www.pbs.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/hjournal2013Vol3p2.html"><i>Law, Crime and History</i></a>, Tony Ward opens his review of my book with an interesting comparison to a television crime drama:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I started reading this book on the evening when the TV crime drama Broadchurch reached its finale, and the parallels are readily apparent: a suspicious death in a small community brings family conflicts to the surface, rumours abound, an arrogant policeman from London comes to investigate, the national press scent a good story, and the family of the deceased find themselves briefly famous. </blockquote>
<br />
Ward concludes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The Most Remarkable Woman in England</i> is a scholarly book and Wood resists any temptation to ‘solve’ the case, though he argues that the suicide theory was plausible and Beatrice was rightly acquitted. He urges historians to take ‘into account both those women who were demonised by the public and unfairly condemned and those who received public support and were – all things considered – treated fairly’ (195). In this respect <b>his work usefully complements studies of women convicted of murder</b>, such as Anette Balinger’s Dead Woman Walking (2000). But if one sees early twentieth century murder trials as a kind of morality play in which the moral invariably serves to reinforce the subordination of women, Beatrice Pace’s trial fits the mould as well as any of those that sent women to the gallows. -- <i>Law, Crime and History</i>, 3.2 (2013), 193-94. (<a href="http://www.pbs.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/journal/Vol.3%20issue2%202013/Carter%20Wood%20Review%20of%20Rowbotham%20et%20al,%20Shame,%20Blame%20and%20Culpability.pdf">PDF version of the full review</a>)</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-7668060355221360972013-08-12T20:49:00.001+02:002013-08-12T20:55:44.395+02:00Today in the Pace case: 12 August 1928Eighty-five years ago on this date, the last instalment of Beatrice Pace's six-part 'life story' appeared in the <i>Sunday Express</i>, the newspaper to which the rights to her autobiography had been sold (on the day after her acquittal for her husband's arsenic murder) for somewhat more than £3,000, which was then a substantial sum.<br />
<br />
In the final episode, 'The Beginning of a New Life', Beatrice offered both some final comments on her marriage and a few insights into what--as the title suggested--her life had become.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DQCgPzsFm64/UgktHTNZ3jI/AAAAAAAABEs/knxtdnaaD9o/s1600/Sunday+Express,+12+Aug+1928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DQCgPzsFm64/UgktHTNZ3jI/AAAAAAAABEs/knxtdnaaD9o/s400/Sunday+Express,+12+Aug+1928.jpg" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sunday Express</i>, 12 Aug 1928, p. 12.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I realise better now that I have to talk about my life on paper, what my feelings towards my husband really were. They were those of a mother with a bad, unruly child much stronger than herself.<br />
I see now that after a very few months I stopped feeling like a wife and began to feel like a mother.<br />
<br />
Harry made me feel like that. His carelessness, his dumbness—even his meanness.<br />
<br />
Like the meanness of a child who hoards cheep sweets and will neither give them away nor enjoy them himself—all forced me to feel that unless I mothered him he would be quite helpless.<br />
<br />
I pitied Harry, I can see that now, and it occurs to me that perhaps he felt it at the bottom of his mind, and resented it.<br />
<br />
It may be that I was mistaken to pity him, and that his man’s pride was hurt. It may be that he thought to himself, “Pity me, does she? I’ll show her who’s the best man here!” and perhaps, when his fury was on him, those thought made him more cruel.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
**</div>
<br />
You can imagine that with such a life my mind did not move much. We had no pleasures and no outings. As I have already said, I was never allowed to go to the cinema or the theatre, and, in any case, I was too shabby to have gone to either.<br />
<br />
I had little time to myself, and all I could think about was my home and my children. They were part of my work, and a big part, but they were also my holiday. Worried and troubled as I was with them, seeing that they were so delicate owing to the way Harry treated me, and the lack of proper food, I don't know what I should have done without them. Theirs were the only smiles I saw at home.<br />
<br />
I went to the seaside the other day. It was the first time in my life that I had ever seen the sea. The air was wonderful, and I felt better as soon as I began to breathe it in. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
**</div>
<br />
Since then the world has become a new place for me, and I have been living a life that I have sometimes found it difficult to believe real.<br />
<br />
But now I know it is real, and I want once more to thank all those who have shown me sympathy, who have helped me with money or gifts or advice when I was in danger of losing my life.<br />
<br />
Though I can never repay you all, I shall never forget any of you.<br />
<br />
(<i>Sunday Express</i>, 12 August 1928, p. 12)</blockquote>
(For the other instalments in the series, click <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/search/label/life-story">here</a>.)<br />
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-8151268904047400502013-08-05T21:32:00.002+02:002013-08-12T20:53:50.447+02:00Today in the Pace case: 5 August 1928Eighty-five years ago today, the fifth instalment of Beatrice Pace's 'life-story' appeared in the <i>Sunday Express</i>, which had bought the rights to her autobiography on the day after her acquittal for the arsenic murder of her husband, Harry Pace.<br />
<br />
Like the <a href="http://pacecase.blogspot.de/2013/07/today-in-pace-case-29-july-1928.html">previous week's instalment</a>, this one combined elements of autobiography with something of an 'advice column'.<br />
<br />
It was titled, 'A Talk To Those About To Marry'.<br />
<br />
It focused a great deal on the violence in the Pace household and Beatrice's efforts to deal with it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NMnm7IaILac/Uf_8ibFA-AI/AAAAAAAABEc/1nKTc38yhA8/s1600/Sunday+Express,+5+Aug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NMnm7IaILac/Uf_8ibFA-AI/AAAAAAAABEc/1nKTc38yhA8/s400/Sunday+Express,+5+Aug.jpg" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The <i>Sunday Express</i>, 5 August 1928, p. 15</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sometimes, when I would see him coming over the fields with that walk that I knew meant a thrashing for me, I would go to meet him, and tell him of something special that I had got for his supper.<br />
<br />
It used to happen, now and again, that by doing that I escaped a beating, and it used to happen that sometimes I did not. […]<br />
<br />
<b>Pancakes were the great things to put him in a good temper, and whatever were my housekeeping difficulties, I nearly always contrived to have in the house materials for making them.</b> If I felt trouble in the air (like our dog, Rover, I often sensed Harry’s moods beforehand), I would hurry to get some pancakes ready, and then run to meet Harry so soon as I saw him coming across the fields.’ […]<br />
<br />
<b>I have read about “strong, silent men” in stories, and how women are supposed to love them, but let me tell you that whenever I hear about that kind of man I think of Harry, and I wonder why people write such nonsense. Poor Harry was strong and silent enough, and I do not advise any women to marry such a type. </b>[…]<br />
<br />
I have said it before, and I say it again—I loved Harry, and I would have stood by him whatever he did, and for another eighteen years, if he had lived. But I say frankly that if I had my life over again I would not marry a man of his type for all the money in the world. It was a deadening existence, one that I could not have believed possible, if I had not experienced it. […]<br />
<br />
<b>But this I will say—I don’t advise any girl to marry, whether she is rich or poor, until she knows—and is sure she knows—something about the bad qualities of the man who wants to be her husband.</b></blockquote>
JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-16315096813334048452013-07-29T19:53:00.001+02:002013-08-12T20:54:05.501+02:00Today in the Pace case: 29 July 192885 years ago today, the fourth instalment of Beatrice Pace's post-acquittal series in the <i>Sunday Express</i> was published, combining a continuation of her 'life-story' with elements of what could be seen as an 'advice column'.<br />
<br />
Titled 'A Talk to Wives, by Mrs. Pace', the article is presented in part as a <i>reaction </i>to the letters that Beatrice has been sent by the public. (One chapter in the book deals with the fascinating and often poignant letters received by Beatrice Pace from her admirers.)<br />
<br />
There are suggestions that some of these letters might have made some criticisms about the decisions she had made. <br />
<br />
Because it deals so extensively with the issue of domestic violence -- accusations of which featured prominently in the case -- and Beatrice's reactions to it, it is worth quoting a section of the article at length. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7xECRIdqp0/Ufaq8oXOUDI/AAAAAAAABEM/2QPRZr1xtiI/s1600/Mrs+Pace,+SE+29+July+1928_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7xECRIdqp0/Ufaq8oXOUDI/AAAAAAAABEM/2QPRZr1xtiI/s400/Mrs+Pace,+SE+29+July+1928_0001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
‘Since I began my story in the “Sunday Express” I have had hundreds of letters from women, all of them kind, but many of them saying what amounts to this:<br />
You have had a terrible time in your married life: you have suffered terrible pain and anxiety in being accused of a murder you did not commit.<br />
Your husband treated you worse than an animal, and yet expected you to mother his children and keep his home.<br />
Why were you such a fool as to put up with it? We would not have done so for a week, let alone eighteen years. We would have run away.<br />
That is the question I have been asked, and I think I can answer it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sARLW9A2rEo/Ufaq6C3jc-I/AAAAAAAABEE/WUYHsiZ9hR4/s1600/Mrs+Pace,+SE+29+July+1928_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sARLW9A2rEo/Ufaq6C3jc-I/AAAAAAAABEE/WUYHsiZ9hR4/s200/Mrs+Pace,+SE+29+July+1928_0002.jpg" width="103" /></a><b>I do not believe that the women who say they would have run away would really have done so.</b><br />
<br />
There are things in married life which unmarried women cannot understand and which even married women who have kind husbands cannot understand. There are things deep down in us that only experiences like mine can make use realise—feelings and ideas that a happy life doesn’t bring out.<br />
It is easy to talk of running away when there is nothing to run from, when you are free, and have no responsibilities and no ties.<br />
A woman thinks then that she is going to be the master—that the can do as she likes, and that if anything goes wrong she has only to walk out like a cook giving notice.’<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TqmRkVYjPyE/UfaqyURfJfI/AAAAAAAABD8/5hyoN-1Wl38/s1600/Mrs+Pace,+SE+29+July+1928_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TqmRkVYjPyE/UfaqyURfJfI/AAAAAAAABD8/5hyoN-1Wl38/s200/Mrs+Pace,+SE+29+July+1928_0003.jpg" width="122" /></a>‘When you are poor and married and trouble comes, you begin to realise that you have got to light the world together, even if you are fighting each other at the same time. It is difficult for me to explain what I mean—I’m not a writer—but it seems to me like this:<br />
<b>You feel that you mustn’t just turn your back and run away from things like a coward.</b><br />
<b> You feel that you’ve got to fight for what you’ve got, to keep it and to make it better. </b><br />
<b> And whatever love there is in your life you feel you want to keep it alive.</b><br />
I felt I was keeping my love for Harry alive by sticking to him and putting up as best I could with the things he did.<br />
Then there were the children […]<br />
Anyway, I felt that because I had suffered for them, it was a proof that I had something to love and to work for. Another thing was that they made me feel closer to Harry—not the Harry who beat me, but the Harry I thought of as my husband.<br />
They seemed to be the better part of him, and I often used to think as I held them in my arms, “Here I hold all that Harry might have been to me.”’ </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">('A Talk to Wives, by Mrs. Pace', <i>Sunday Express</i>, 28 July 1928, p. 14. Emphasis in original.)</span></blockquote>
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042246452921934758.post-89183079916719585052013-07-22T16:40:00.000+02:002013-08-12T20:54:20.009+02:00Today in the Pace Case, 22 July 1928Sunday, 22 July 1928: the second instalment of Beatrice Pace's life story appears in the <i>Sunday Express</i>.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P9PgM6Z3U1Q/Ue1Dbw7-3tI/AAAAAAAABDo/HFgafMgR0kA/s1600/Sunday+Express,+22+July+1928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P9PgM6Z3U1Q/Ue1Dbw7-3tI/AAAAAAAABDo/HFgafMgR0kA/s400/Sunday+Express,+22+July+1928.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunday Express, 22 July 1928, p. 11 (Click for larger image) </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Beatrice wrote about some of her new experiences...<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Now, I realise that what takes my breath away is only ordinary to other people.<br />
<br />
The other day, while I was at Windsor, one of my new friends said to me after dinner, “Mrs. Pace, will you have some coffee?” I thought, “Well, now, I’ve never tasted it,” and I said so. Everybody at table laughed and looked surprised.<br />
<br />
I felt quite silly as they watched me drinking it smiling at me.
… I thought about it afterwards and I decided to tell about it here, so that you will understand how different everything is for me now.
</blockquote>
<br />
...her late husband's strange behaviour....<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When the mood was on him he didn’t care what he did.<br />
<br />
I have already said that all the years we were together he never once looked me straight in the eyes or called me by a soft name. I think that was one of the worst things in my life with him. To be treated like a machine, and to bear his children, and to feel all the time that he only thought about me as something that was his, and that he never cared about me in myself—that did make me feel horrible.<br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
Often after thrashing me he would throw down his stick and start whistling and singing.<br />
<br />
What Harry sang after beating me was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Henery_the_Eighth,_I_Am">always the same song</a>:
“I’m Henery the Eighth, I am,”
Henery the Eighth I am, I am,” and the rest of it.<br />
<br />
I can see it sounds funny now, and it makes me laugh, but it didn’t at the time.
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
...and her inability to leave him:<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I am sure you will all say that if Harry was mad, I must have been
madder to stay by him and put up with it, but as I said at the
beginning, Harry was my man, and I had to stick to him.
I had loved no other man, and he was all I had. I was not then as sad
and bitter as I grew to be as time went on, and I had hope.</blockquote>
<br />JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.com1