The Wicked Boy
Shortlisted for the Cwa Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction 2017
1st Edition
Published on 5. May 2016
400 pages
978-1-4088-5113-5 (ISBN)
Description
FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITER
'The queen of Victorian true crime is back' MAIL ON SUNDAY
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
On 8 July 1895, thirteen-year-old Robert Coombes and his younger brother Nattie set out from their East London home to watch a cricket match. Over the next ten days they spend extravagantly, visiting the theatre and eating out. The boys tell neighbours their father has gone to sea, and their mother to visit family in Liverpool. But when a strange smell begins to emanate from the house, the police are called. What they find throws the press into a frenzy - and the boys into a highly publicised trial.
'An accomplished feat of research and storytelling . . . Wrapping controversial issues into a tense, fluent narrative' HILARY MANTEL
'Riveting . . . Once again the author proves a subtle pathologist, her scalpel slicing away the skin of late-Victorian Britain' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, SUNDAY TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR
'A remarkably heartening story' JOHN PRESTON, DAILY MAIL
'An extraordinary book which will stay with you' DAILY EXPRESS
'It would be impossible to read this dry-eyed' SPECTATOR
Note: There is a chance the book cover you receive may differ from the cover displayed here
'The queen of Victorian true crime is back' MAIL ON SUNDAY
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
On 8 July 1895, thirteen-year-old Robert Coombes and his younger brother Nattie set out from their East London home to watch a cricket match. Over the next ten days they spend extravagantly, visiting the theatre and eating out. The boys tell neighbours their father has gone to sea, and their mother to visit family in Liverpool. But when a strange smell begins to emanate from the house, the police are called. What they find throws the press into a frenzy - and the boys into a highly publicised trial.
'An accomplished feat of research and storytelling . . . Wrapping controversial issues into a tense, fluent narrative' HILARY MANTEL
'Riveting . . . Once again the author proves a subtle pathologist, her scalpel slicing away the skin of late-Victorian Britain' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, SUNDAY TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR
'A remarkably heartening story' JOHN PRESTON, DAILY MAIL
'An extraordinary book which will stay with you' DAILY EXPRESS
'It would be impossible to read this dry-eyed' SPECTATOR
Note: There is a chance the book cover you receive may differ from the cover displayed here
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
2 x 8pp B&W plates
ISBN-13
978-1-4088-5113-5 (9781408851135)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
03/2017
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€16.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Book
05/2016
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
€41.07
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Person
Kate Summerscale is the author of the number one bestselling The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, the Galaxy British Book of the Year Award, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and adapted into a major ITV drama. Her first book, the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, won a Somerset Maugham award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread biography award. Her third book, Mrs Robinson's Disgrace, was a Sunday Times bestseller. Kate Summerscale was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2010. She lives in London.
Content
- Cover
- Half-Title
- Title
- Dedication
- Contents
- Family Tree
- Maps
- Floor Plan of No 35 Cave Road
- A Note on Money
- Prologue
- PART I: TEN DAYS IN JULY
- 1 The three of us
- 2 All I know is that we are rich
- 3 I will tell you the truth
- PART II: THE CITY OF THE DAMNED
- 4 The machine and the abyss
- 5 A kiss goodbye
- 6 This is the knife
- 7 Chronicles of disorder
- 8 Here goes nothing
- PART III: THESE TENDER TIMES
- 9 Cover her face
- 10 The boys springing up amongst us
- 11 It is all over now
- 12 Box him up
- PART IV: THE MURDERERS' PARADISE
- 13 Those that know not what they do
- 14 To have you home again
- 15 In the plastic stage
- PART V: WITH TRUMPETS AND SOUND OF CORNET
- 16 Smooth in the morning light
- 17 Such a hell of a noise
- Epilogue: Another boy
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Acknowledgements
- Index
- A Note on the Author
- By the Same Author
- Plate Section
- Copyright
