The Most Remarkable Woman: Now Available (in the UK)

The day is finally here!

Today marks the official UK release of The Most Remarkable Woman in England: Poison, Celebrity and the Trials of Beatrice Pace. (The book will be available in the US/Canada from 2 October. I'll keep things updated here with any further information.)

Details and ordering information for the reasonably priced paperback edition are available direct from Manchester University Press.

The book is also available--at various discounts--from online retailers such as Amazon.co.uk, Blackwells and Waterstones, as well, of course, via ordering through your local bookshop.

Any messages of the '(almost) out of stock' variety should be taken with a grain of salt: the books have been printed and should either be in or on their way to the relevant warehouses. At most, a little patience might be required at the start.

I will continue to keep making updates here at the blog in the coming months, and please, if you have questions or comments please let me know at the address listed to the right.

You may also wish to 'like' The Most Remarkable Woman in England at its Facebook page: if so, please encourage your friends to do the same!

And if you do enjoy the book (which I hope very much), please say so via online reviews, comments in social media (Goodreads, etc.), blogs you may contribute to, and, of course, in that trusty old means of communication: conversation. As a book from a university press, word-of-mouth advertising (amplified electronically) is going to make all the difference.

Finally, if anybody does run across commentary on the book, I'd be happy if you let me know.

Now: get reading!

Should any further introduction be needed...

Regular readers of this blog will have a pretty good idea of what The Most Remarkable Woman in England is about.

However, should anyone be looking for a succinct introduction (or seeking a quick refresher), Manchester University Press has posted a brief introduction today on their blog.

It's worth reading!

Today in the Pace Case: 19 August 1927

Friday, 19 August 1927: After nearly a month of abdominal pains and partial paralysis Harry Pace is admitted to the Gloucester Royal Infirmary.

Shortly before, the Pace family's local doctor, William Henry Du Pré, and another physician, Ram Nath Nanda, had diagnosed the sick man as suffering from 'peripheral neuritis'.

Harry is so weak that he needs to be carried in a blanket to the car that will take him to hospital.

First confirmed sighting of the Most Remarkable Woman in England

Thanks to the Twitter activities of my editor at Manchester University Press, I can share the first confirmed sighting of The Most Remarkable Woman in England.

I think it looks excellent.

And it will, of course, look even better up close, i.e., when you have it in your own hands.

Information as to its availability to follow.

But it's very exciting to know that it finally exists in physical form!

Today in the Pace case: 17 August

Friday, 17 August 1928: It is reported in several newspapers—such as the Evening News, Daily Chronicle, Daily Mail, Daily News and Daily Telegraph—that Scotland Yard is reopening its inquiries into the death of Harry Pace.

Today in the Pace case: 12 August

Sunday, 12 August 1928: The sixth part of Beatrice’s serialised memoir appears in the Sunday Express, titled 'The Beginning of a New Life'.

My housekeeping money used to very between 15s. and £1 a week. Sometimes it was 10s., and sometimes it was nothing. And on that I had to feed Harry, myself, and the children. Most of the money used to go on tea, sugar, bread, milk, lard to fry in and sometimes a little butter for the bread. I and the children used to live almost entirely on boiled potatoes and friend onion, while I took care that Harry used to have bacon, eggs and cheese. (Sunday Express, 12 August 1928, p. 12.)

Today in the Pace case: 5 August

Sunday, 5 August 1928: The fifth part of Beatrice’s serialised memoir appears in the Sunday Express under the title 'A Talk to Those About to Marry'.

I try to think of what I felt as a young girl married to such a man, and when I think of it now, as a woman of thirty-seven, I wonder how it was that I stuck it for so long. Week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out—nothing but work, meals, rows, and beatings. [...]

There was the continual trouble of getting food, and of seeing that Harry had the best of anything that was in the house. I knew that when he came home from work he would be hungry and tired, and probably in a bad temper, and I was always on the watch to please him.

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.

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. [...]

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. 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. (Sunday Express, 5 August 1928, p. 15)

Today in the Pace case: 29 July

Sunday, 29 July 1928: The fourth part of Beatrice’s serialised memoir appears in the Sunday Express, under the title 'A Talk to Wives by Mrs. Pace'.

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: 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. Your husband treated you worse than an animal, and yet expected you to mother his children and keep his home. 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. That is the question I have been asked, and I think I can answer it.

Today in the Pace case: 23 July 1927

Saturday, 23 July 1927: It is, of course, difficult to say when the Pace matter 'began', but a reasonable choice would be this date in the summer of 1927.

While there remained some debate about precisely what happened, it seems very likely that on this day Beatrice and Harry Pace, assisted by their children Doris and Leslie, 'dipped' several of their lambs in a small tub near the railway line that ran past their home, 'Rose Cottage'.

Sheep 'dipping' involved bathing the animals in an arsenic-rich insecticide and fungicide (powdered 'sheep dip' mixed with water) to prevent infestation.

That evening, Harry began to suffer abdominal pains so intense that he rolled around in agony on the ground, and he stayed in bed all the following day.

Today in the Pace case: 22 July

Sunday, 22 July 1928: The third part of Beatrice’s serialised memoir appears in the Sunday Express.

Today in the Pace case: 15 July

Sunday, 15 July 1928: The second part of Beatrice’s serialised memoir appears in the Sunday Express.

(Sunday Express, 15 July 1928, p. 1: Beatrice Pace, with Alice Sayes holding Jean Pace)

A lofty perspective on the Pace trial

Although I thought, at first, that they have nothing in particular to do with the Pace case (or with crime), these 1920s aerial views of London (gathered together by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) give a fascinating visual perspective on the period.

The pictures come from the project: 'Britain from Above', which I followed up on and joined (it's free).

Doing a quick search led me to photos which are relevant to the Pace case (and were even taken in the same year as the trial), such as this image of central Gloucester:

(Gloucester from the air, 1928. Source)

The Gloucester Shire Hall, where Beatrice's trial was held, is clearly visible in the lower part of the photo in the centre (other images posted on this blog of the Shire Hall are here and here):

This one is also interesting, as it shows Gloucester Prison, where Beatrice was held during the trial (the Shire Hall is now in the upper left-hand corner:

(Gloucester Prison from the air, 1928. Source.)

It was a very short distance to the Shire hall (also visible in the photo at the upper left hand), but Beatrice was ferried back and forth by car, usually to the accompaniment of raucous public demonstrations.

Today in the Pace case: 9 July

Monday, 9 July 1928: Beatrice’s Member of Parliament, A. A. Purcell, raises a series of questions in Parliament about her treatment and suggests that she should receive compensation. (Click on the link to see the original text of the parliamentary discussion.)

Today in the Pace case: 8 July

Sunday, 8 July 1928: The first part of Beatrice’s serialised memoir appears in the Sunday Express.

Sunday Express, 8 July 1928, p. 1 (Click for larger image.)

Today in the Pace case: 7 July

Saturday, 7 July 1928: The publication rights to Beatrice’s life story are sold to the Sunday Express for a substantial sum. Beatrice, accompanied by her friend Alice Sayes, departs Coleford for a holiday in Windsor.