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Monday 2 July 2012

Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum by Mark Stevens

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 236 KB
  • Print Length: 107 pages
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B005DXFGJE

Broadmoor Revealed gives the reader a glimpse behind the walls of England’s first Criminal Lunatic Asylum.

Focused on the Victorian period, the book tells the stories of some of the hospital’s best-known patients. There is Edward Oxford, who shot at Queen Victoria, and Richard Dadd, the brilliant artist and murderer of his father. There is also William Chester Minor, the surgeon from America who killed a stranger in London, and then played a key part in creating the world's finest dictionary. Finally, there is Christiana Edmunds, ‘The Chocolate Cream Poisoner’ and frustrated lover.
To these four tales are added new ones, previously unknown. There were five women who went on to become mothers in Broadmoor, giving birth to life when three of them had previously taken it. Then there were the numerous escapes, actual and attempted, as the first doctors tried to assert control over their residents.
These are stories from the edge of where true crime meets mental illness. Broadmoor Revealed recounts what life was like for the criminally insane, over one hundred years ago.

Synopsis from Amazon U.K

I have always had an interest in the victorian era and this book did not disappoint. It was well researched by the author and was well presented. I loved the fact that each chapter contained a true account of each persons stay at Broadmoor and also I found that the descriptions of the Asylum were so vivid that it transported me straight to that time and place. I would love the author to do a follow up to this book as I found it a great read and very accurate but I was left wanting to hear more about the "Lunatic Asylum"  Overall it was a great read!


                                                  

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