Belle emerges as a far more complex person in Story of a Murder than the frivolous would-be chanteuse the newspapers of the age depicted ... Rubenhold paints a vivid picture of a world dominated by patriarchal norms ... Essential reading for anyone who may believe the past was a gentler, romantic time for women. Rubenhold’s work is a story of female resilience and solidarity in response to terrible circumstances.
Astonishing and deeply researched ... Story of a Murder entrances, speeding us along on journeys of female empowerment, complete with fascinating details of life as a woman living in the early 20th century, then delivers a murder mystery with all the thrill of a manhunt.
Vivid ... While Rubenhold is at pains to demote Crippen’s creepiness in the tale—and she succeeds by portraying him as an abject professional failure—it is undeniable that the book’s greatest momentum comes from the murder itself ... Story of a Murder’s finely layered portrait of a hypocritical Edwardian society, where concealments lay behind every door, is the greater achievement.
Thoughtful, humane and gripping...the kind of popular history you devour in a single sitting ... Even though we know where the story is leading, Rubenhold makes it tremendously exciting. Yet she never loses sight of the tragedy at its centre.
Synthesizes perceptively the many millions of words that have been written about the Crippen trial. But Hallie Rubenhold goes further than other authors: she examines the contrasting figures of Ethel and Belle within their particular contexts, turning the crude stereotypes of the murder trial upside down. She is not looking for conclusions but exploring complexity, and the results are compelling.
Rubenhold’s intention here is to divert attention away from the doctor...and put Cora back at the centre of the story. It is no accident that she, bold and magnificent, rather than mild and mousy Crippen, looks out from the cover of this book.
Rubenhold doesn't stint on any of the...details, so readers looking for an engrossing narrative of the Crippen case written for the modern era will certainly find it here ... Rubenhold clearly hates this little man and wants her readers to hate him too.
Rubenhold doesn’t theorise...but simply tells the story as completely and accurately as possible ... One of the many features of Edwardian life that Rubenhold evokes brilliantly is the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild, an organisation set up in 1906 to raise funds for female music-hall performers who had fallen on hard times.
Masterfully reinvestigates an infamous case in a thoroughly modern way, revealing the women behind the gruesome headlines and restoring dignity to Belle Elmore.
