Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m flying through this Victorian era mystery which is based on a true British murder case.

In 1843, the body of 23-year-old Harriet Monckton is found in the privy behind the chapel she attends. The townspeople are shocked; Harriet was unmarried, respectable and religious … and apparently six months pregnant.

The story is told through the voices of the four people closest to her and they all seem to have a motive for her murder.

I cherish what I think of as my silent times. Times when I spend at least six or seven hours by myself, not speaking even one word out loud. I'm a big fan of Thomas Merton, who was a Trappist monk, but even before I started to read his books I liked the idea of being silent for set periods of time.

... we have had to learn to write ourselves into the story in any way we can.

I want some dreams like this...

Looking back, I see that I was taught a very wide range of poems, almost all written by European men. Poems like Noyes's 'The Highwayman', Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott', Rudyard Kipling's 'If' and any Shakespeare's sonnets.

I really enjoyed this book based on a true story of Harriet Monckton , murdered circa 1840 & found in the church privy, Kent , England , so sad.
I loved the first half & I loved the second half almost as much ... but felt a bit underwhelmed by the time the murderer was identified. ( IRL no murderer was ever found ) ... but I think that‘s just me , maybe in another non-covid time I would feel differently

Pic of old graveyard on my walk

“.... the endless hours of Annie‘s half-day ... “ I don‘t know how this character, Richard Field, would manage right now 😳🙄

Really loving this one 👍🏻❤️thank god ! ( There‘s been a lot of bailing going on lately 🙄) ...
but on a roll now 🤞🏻

Loved how this book is written, flicking between different narratives to hear the different perspectives of a complicated tale ... had a real hatred for certain characters which I rarely experience!

WOW! White men are the worst! All I have to say about this book other than its very well written.

A back and forth between different first person narrators who all loved or used Harriet is how her story is told and that could have been annoying or confusing but was done brilliantly by the author. I found myself rooting for Harriet even though I knew that death awaited her. It's best to read this book without knowing much about it. Loved it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A gripping Victorian #whodunnit that will keep you guessing to the end. Based on the real life 1843 murder of 24yr old Harriet Monckton. The story is told from four POV of the main suspects, each with secrets to keep and a strong motive for murder. The novel has an excellent afterword by the author detailing her research.

I‘m loving this book, everyone had a motive to kill Harriet #MurderMystery #KeepsYouGuessing #WhoDunIt

A brilliant historical whodunnit, based on a true story. I loved the different narratives running alongside each other, the slow uncovering of the bigger picture and the secrets nearly everyone seemed to be concealing. If you enjoyed Alias Grace, or the fiction of Sarah Waters and Emma Donoghue, the chances are you‘ll enjoy this too.

#BookMail Pt3 This is based on a true story, on 7th November 1843, 23yr old Harriet Monckton, a woman of respectable means, was found murdered in the privy behind a chapel in Bromley, Kent. The community was appalled by her poisoning, and even more so when the autopsy showed she was six months pregnant. Elizabeth Haynes draws on coroners reports, witness testimonies & other historical documents to try and fill in the blanks in this case.

True !