Author: Brandy Purdy
Format: ARC
Publisher: Kensington
Publish Date: October 28, 2014
Source: HF Virtual Book Tours
What's the Story?:
From Goodreads.com: "It begins as a fairytale romance-a shipboard meeting in 1880 between vivacious Southern belle Florence Chandler and handsome English cotton broker James Maybrick. Courtship and a lavish wedding soon follow, and the couple settles into an affluent Liverpool suburb.
From the first, their marriage is doomed by lies. Florie, hardly the heiress her scheming mother portrayed, is treated as an outsider by fashionable English society. James's secrets are infinitely darker-he has a mistress, an arsenic addiction, and a vicious temper. But Florie has no inkling of her husband's depravity until she discovers his diary-and in it, a litany of bloody deeds..."
My Two Cents:
"The Ripper's Wife" is the latest release from Brandy Purdy. In this book, she tackles the one of the great historical mysteries that still fascinates so many people today: the murders of Jack the Ripper. The author based this story on some writings discovered just in the recent decades that may point to the identity of the infamous Jack the Ripper. In these writings, Jack is outed as James Maybrick, a merchant man who marries a beautiful American named Florence. The story is told from both Florence's and James' point of view, which I thought really added a lot of interest to the story!
The author creates a very plausible story in which James is driven to pure madness by the thought of his wife cheating on him. This (and some other scary personality flaws), lead him to commit the Jack the Ripper murders. We get to see Florence's thoughts as she begins to piece together that the wonderful man that she thinks she has married is really a cold-hearted, psychopath. There are a lot of things that begin to cause her to believe that he is not exactly the fine upstanding gentlemen she was led to believe he was when she first got married. We also get to see James' take on how he is able to convince himself that what he is doing by murdering prostitutes is really okay. I love that we got to see both sides of the story! It definitely made it interesting to see the story from the perspective of both Florence and from James himself, much more interesting that seeing only one perspective.
I really enjoyed the writing of this book. You can tell the author put a lot of time into really developing a distinct voice for both Florence and for James. I like the way that she was able to include a lot of historical elements that really made the story pop. There is still a lot of debate as to whether or not James Maybrick was really Jack the Ripper. However, the author makes it very compelling case within the story that James and Jack are one in the same and definitely makes for very unique perspective.
Some of the story is pretty graphic but then again these are the Jack the Ripper murders we are talking about so everything that the author has included really fits with the story and lends a very eerie feel to this book, perfect reading for the week of Halloween. Overall, I really enjoyed this creepy story and historical fiction lovers who want to be a little bit scared while reading a historical novel will also enjoy this pick.
Follow the Rest of the Tour:
Monday, October 27
Review at A Bookish Affair
Tuesday, October 28
Review & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Obsession
Interview & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair
Wednesday, October 29
Review at Kinx’s Book Nook
Review at The Maiden’s Court
Thursday, October 30
Review at Book of Secrets
Friday, October 31
Review at WTF Are You Reading?
Feature at Passages to the Past
Monday, November 3
Review at A Chick Who Reads
Interview & Giveaway at Mina’s Bookshelf
Tuesday, November 4
Review at 100 Pages a Day – Stephanie’s Book reviews
Interview at A Chick Who Reads
Wednesday, November 5
Review at JulzReads
Thursday, November 6
Review at History & Women
Friday, November 7
Review at A Book Geek
Monday, November 10
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews
Tuesday, November 11
Review & Giveaway at Historical Tapestry
Wednesday, November 12
Review & Giveaway at Broken Teepee
Thursday, November 13
Review at A Bibliotaph’s Reviews
Friday, November 14
Review at Girl Lost in a Book
This one is on my list. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteThis is a book I would love to read. I've been a "fan"--that sounds sick--but the story of the ripper goes with a certain atmosphere. I took the "Jack the Ripper" tour when in London and the weather was like it was back in that time. It almost felt like I was there. Thank you, Ms. Purdy, for bringing history to life again.
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