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Bezig met laden... The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenburydoor Sean O'Connor
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. A very interesting look at a case that really dominated the British landscape in the years coming up to the Second World War. Much more than just an account of a legal phenomenon, this is an analysis of how a truly tragic event can affect not only the people involve, but those are around them. Once again, Sean O’Connor shows real Passion flare when it comes to bringing these characters and societal more of the time to life. Anyone that’s interested in the 1930s, the British dominions, and society precious will enjoy this. ( ) I stumbled across this book, and am really pleased to have read it, although on so many levels the story is upsetting. I came to it fresh, completely ignorant of the people and events. The book is an illuminating account of the shocking end of a celebrated Canadian architect. Francis Rattenbury, which the author sets within the context of local and global events. The central event is a murder in the seaside town of Bournemouth, but this is misleading, the book ranging far and wide, moving back and forth across the Atlantic - rootlessness, migration and exile may indeed be components of the unfolding tragedies, along with the horrors of war, the challenges of talent and temperament, the imbalances of power, to say nothing of passion as both a creative and destructive force. Every now and then I had to stop reading to digest the latest revelation. O'Connor brings to mind Oscar Wilde's observation that "the truth is rarely pure and never simple,". On a personal note, when visiting British Columbia some years ago I had taken photos of the grand buildings of Victoria, unaware that they were the work of Rattenbury; fairly early in my reading I therefore realised his creations were familiar to me. A bit later came what I can only describe as a shock: this was the realisation that as a young man my late father had been friendly with one of the secondary characters in the story, not only that, but they had first met in 1935, the year of both the murder and the trial. This was something he had never mentioned to his children. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
'A case study in human frailty, jealousy and desire ... fascinating.' The Times, Best Books of 2019 'Meticulously researched...superbly evocative and gripping...a narrative that builds with the intensity of an approaching thunderstorm.' The Spectator 'Sean O'Connor can't resist striking a theatrical note in this "biography of murder".' Sunday Times Adultery, alcoholism, drugs and murder on the suburban streets of Bournemouth. The Rattenbury case of 1935 was one of the great tabloid sensations of the interwar period. The glamorous femme fatale at the heart of the story dominated the front pages for months, somewhere between the rise of Hitler and the launch of the Queen Mary. With painstaking research and access to brand new evidence, Sean O'Connor vividly brings this epic story to life, from its beginnings in the south London slums of the 1880s and the open vistas of the British Columbian coast to its bloody climax in a respectable English seaside resort. The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury is a gripping murder tale and a heartbreaking romance, as well as the biography of a vital, modern woman trapped between the freedoms of two world wars and suffocated by the conformity of peacetime. A startlingly prescient parable for our times, it is the story of a protagonist who dared to challenge the status quo only to be crucified by public opinion, pilloried by the press and punished by the relentless machinery of the British legal system. With a wealth of fascinating period detail, from its breathtaking opening to its shocking conclusion, The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury is a true story as enthralling, provocative and moving as any work of fiction. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)364.1523092Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and Offenses Offenses against persons Homicide Murder History, geographic treatment, biography BiographyWaarderingGemiddelde:
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