The Wicked Boy The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer

The Wicked Boy : The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer
ISBN: 9781408851159
Publication Date: 27 April 2016

Caroline Baum's Review

I'm a great fan of Summerscale's meticulous British biographies- she has such a fastidious and beady eye for detail it's as if she is looking at all the evidence through an extra sharp microscope. She combines her methodical analysis with real writerly flair when it comes to archival material, making it come alive in technicolour. The Queen of Whale Cay is a hoot and would make a marvellous film; The Suspicions of Mr Whicher is a fascinating true crime take on the classic murder mystery.

Now Summerscale tackles the case of a teenage boy, Robert Coombes, and his younger brother accused of the stabbing murder of their mother in 1895. The boys' actions are not really the focus of Summerscale's attention; they are not in dispute. Instead she gives us the social canvas in which the crime is committed and more importantly, how Robert's circumstances contributed to his mental regression but also, more fascinatingly, following his sentencing, Summerscale takes us inside one of Britain's most famous prison asylums, Broadmoor. Robert Coombes was the youngest inmate of this famous place by several years. Strangely enough, against all the odds, it was the making of him.

I won't tell you what happens next as I don't want to spoil the suspense of the story. Suffice to say it leads in a very unexpected direction and tells a powerful story of redemption that is moving and enlightening.

Blurb

The gripping, fascinating account of a shocking murder case that sent late Victorian Britain into a frenzy, by the bestselling, multi-award-winning author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

Early in the morning of Monday 8 July 1895, thirteen-year-old Robert Coombes and his twelve-year-ol...