The Wicked Boy, Kate Summerscale
The Wicked Boy, Kate Summerscale
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Wicked Boy
The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer

Author: Kate Summerscale

Narrator: Corrie James

Unabridged: 9 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 07/12/2016


Synopsis

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.

About Kate Summerscale

Kate Summerscale is the author of the bestselling books The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective and The Queen of Whale Cay: The Eccentric Story of "Joe" Carstairs, Fastest Woman on Water. She lives in London with her son.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on November 29, 2023

This true crime book is about Robert Coombes, who killed his mother when he was thirteen years old. If Robert had been hung his story would have ended there, but Robert was spared, and went on to become a respected member of society. If you're a person who prefers minimal information before reading......more

Goodreads review by Carlos on January 07, 2017

Nice little nonfiction book. It's main point deals with the sentencing of a boy of 13 for the murder of his mother , this is a real case. The first half of the book deals with all intricacies of the case, the before, the middle and the trial. The other half of the book deals with the after for both......more

Goodreads review by Caroline on May 17, 2016

In East London in the summer of 1895 13-year-old Robert Coombes murdered his mother. His guilt was never in question, and he never denied the charges when the death was eventually discovered. For ten days after the murder, his mother's body lay rotting in the summer heat in an upstairs bedroom, whil......more

Goodreads review by Ken on September 09, 2018

A fascinating true account of thirteen year old Robert Coombes who murdered he’s mother in the summer of 1895. The book follows he’s trial subsequent life after these events. I practically liked how Summerscale transports the reader to that period in history, as for 10 days prior to the discovery of t......more

Goodreads review by Orion on September 23, 2016

Thought it would be in the same vein as In Cold Blood or Compulsion. But it was more of an historical and judicial essay. Too much cold facts and dates and too little emotional implication.......more