Kate Summerscale

"Una notte d''estate del 1860. In un''elegante casa georgiana del Wiltshire tutti dormono. All''una il cane abbaia. Il mattino l''orribile scoperta, la culla del piu piccolo dei sette figli, Saville Kent, e vuota. Un brivido percorre tutta la casa e inizia una disperata ricerca, si valuta la possibilita di un sequestro, si interrogano i domestici. Nel salone una finestra e aperta: e l''unica pista. Poche ore dopo, il cadavere del bambino viene trovato sgozzato in giardino. Tutti i membri della famiglia Kent sono sospettati e l''assassino e certamente fra loro. L''ispettore di Scotland Yard Jack Whicher viene mandato sul posto a indagare. È il primo a usare metodi di indagine che poi diventeranno famosi, anche grazie a scrittori come Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, o Arthur Conan Doyle che si ispireranno alla sua figura reale per i loro personaggi immaginari. Il caso occupa per anni le prime pagine dei quotidiani, tutta l''Inghilterra segue il delitto, ne e affascinata e terrorizzata. Nessuno accettera le conclusioni di Mr. Whicher, che solo in un secondo tempo si riveleranno esatte. Kate Summerscale ricostruisce l''intera vicenda servendosi di documenti e fonti giornalistiche dell''epoca, con una forte capacita di padroneggiare le tecniche del racconto giallo. "

El estremecedor relato del crimen que conmocionó a la recatada sociedad victoriana.Este libro constituye el relato verídico de un escalofriante asesinato acaecido en un pueblo de Inglaterra en 1860. Ocurrio en el seno de la familia Kent: el hijo mas joven fue secuestrado y despues degollado. El brutal asesinato ocupo las primeras paginas de los periodicos durante varios años y llamo la atencion de escritores como Charles Dickens y Wilkie Collins. Su resolucion dejo al descubierto las turbias aguas que se escondian tras la formalidad decimononica de la familia inglesa convencional.

Summer 1860, an elegant country house, a young boy is found dead in an outside privy. All clues point towards the murderer being a member of the grieving household.Called to the scene is the most celebrated detective of his day, Jonathan Whicher from Scotland Yard. But this case challenges him in ways hes never been challenged before.Over twenty years later, still haunted by the case, Whicher visits the murderer. As they replay the past, they start to question the nature of truth, the desire for certainty and the possibility of redemption.This compelling stage adaptation of Kate Summerscales gripping bestseller opened at The Watermill Theatre, Newbury, in May 2023.This ensemble piece provides rich opportunities for companies looking to intrigue their audiences with a fresh take on a dark Victorian mystery.

It is a summer's night in 1860. In an elegant detached Georgian house in the village of Road, Wiltshire, all is quiet. Behind shuttered windows the Kent family lies sound asleep. At some point after midnight a dog barks. The family wakes the next morning to a horrific discovery: an unimaginably gruesome murder has taken place in their home. The household reverberates with shock, not least because the guilty party is surely still among them. Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard, the most celebrated detective of his day, reaches Road Hill House a fortnight later. He faces an unenviable task: to solve a case in which the grieving family are the suspects. The murder provokes national hysteria. The thought of what might be festering behind the closed doors of respectable middle-class homes - scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing - arouses fear and a kind of excitement. But when Whicher reaches his shocking conclusion there is uproar and bewilderment.A true story that inspired a generation of writers such as Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle, this has all the hallmarks of the classic murder mystery - a body; a detective; a country house steeped in secrets. In The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Kate Summerscale untangles the facts behind this notorious case, bringing it back to vivid, extraordinary life.

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ALL BIBLIOMANES A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, SPECTATOR AND DAILY MAILAS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 WOMAN'S HOUR AND START THE WEEKPlunge into this rich, surprising and stunningly designed A-Z compendium to discover how our fixations have taken shape, from the Middle Ages to the present day, as bestselling author Kate Summerscale deftly traces the threads between the past and present, the psychological and social, the personal and the political. 'Fascinating ... Phobias and manias create a magical space between us and the world' Malcolm Gaskill, author of the No.1 bestseller The Ruin of All Witches'Fascinating' Observer'An endlessly intriguing book ... All the bibliomanes (book nutters) I know will love it' Daily Mail

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ALL BIBLIOMANIACSA BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES FINANCIAL TIMES SPECTATOR AND DAILY MAILA WATERSTONES BEST POPULAR SCIENCE BOOK Plunge into this rich and thought provoking A Z compendium to discover how our fixations have taken shape from the Middle Ages to the present day as bestselling author Kate Summerscale deftly traces the threads between the past and present the psychological and social the personal and the political Fascinating Malcolm Gaskill author of the No 1 bestseller The Ruin of All Witches Fascinating Observer An endlessly intriguing book All the bibliomanes book nutters I know will love it Daily Mail

Early in the morning of Monday 8 July 1895, thirteen-year-old Robert Coombes and his twelve-year-old brother Nattie set out from their small, yellow-brick terraced house in East London to watch a cricket match at Lord's. Their father had gone to sea the previous Friday, the boys told their neighbours, and their mother was visiting her family in Liverpool. Over the next ten days Robert and Nattie spent extravagantly, pawning their parents' valuables to fund trips to the theatre and the seaside. But as the sun beat down on the Coombes house, a strange smell began to emanate from the building. When the police were finally called to investigate, the discovery they made sent the press into a frenzy of horror and alarm, and Robert and Nattie were swept up in a criminal trial that echoed the outrageous plots of the 'penny dreadful' novels that Robert loved to read. In The Wicked Boy, Kate Summerscale has uncovered a fascinating true story of murder and morality - it is not just a meticulous examination of a shocking Victorian case, but also a compelling account of its aftermath, and of man's capacity to overcome the past.

La brontofobia, o el miedo patológico a las tormentas, se considera un terror infantil, pero son muchos más los adultos afectados. La erotomanía, u obsesión amorosa es tanto la angust

El estremecedor relato del crimen que conmocionó a la recatada sociedad victoriana.Este libro constituye el relato verídico de un escalofriante asesinato acaecido en un pueblo de Inglaterra en 1860. Ocurrio en el seno de la familia Kent: el hijo mas joven fue secuestrado y despues degollado. El brutal asesinato ocupo las primeras paginas de los periodicos durante varios años y llamo la atencion de escritores como Charles Dickens y Wilkie Collins. Su resolucion dejo al descubierto las turbias aguas que se escondian tras la formalidad decimononica de la familia inglesa