book review #3 the murder of harriet Monckton
- Elizabeth Haynes
It’s been ages since I last posted a book review on my blog..(oops). I finally finished a book that I felt comfortable writing a review on and it’s a book based on a real unsolved murder..! It’s not the kind of book I usually go for but it was definitely one I’m glad I chose to pick up. This book follows the year and years after Harriet Monckton and her baby’s tragic death in 1843. The foundation of the book is based on real testimonies by people that were closest to her, yet each have a story they desperately hide during court since it could lead to them being suspected for her death.
Harriet was an aspiring teacher that was loved by her students. She also helped out in her local church where she usually attended, led by the pastor George Verrall who frequently narrates the book. He appears as the wise and well grounded man you’d expect as a churchman, but he has his reasons to act in this way. There comes her landlord Richard Field, a man Harriet once loved but later gets mistreated by. Verrall and Field both seduce Harriet several times in her life, but never respect Harriet enough to commit to her in the way they should have. Soon to be fiance Thomas Churcher and colleague Frances Williams also play an important role in her life, both loving her dearly but never got to hear about her pregnancy since she was too afraid of what they’d think. Though only 23 years of age, Harriet faced real struggles of being an unmarried woman in her time and never got to live the life she could have had with Thomas.
The book is structured in a unique way that it doesn’t go in a chronological order, but rather in reverse and then loops back to the very beginning of the book. The majority of the book is based on the testimonies in court right after her death and 3 years later, but there is also a section on Harriet’s diary, where you realize the lies made by the above suspects. This section is a creation of Haynes’ imagination, but I enjoyed this part the most because you finally get to hear Harriet’s voice first handedly. You see her somewhat broken relation with her family, her dedication to her job, and her heartwarming stories with Thomas. Despite the troubles and social bashing she faced from frequent and often times forced sexual relationships she had with older married men, her relations with Frances and Thomas make the book lighter to read. Though she couldn’t share with Frances and Thomas what should have been one of her greatest joys in life, you can tell that Harriet cared for them and just wanted to live as the young, compassionate woman they saw her as.
This book was a page turner and I highly recommend it especially if you want a thriller that can take you outside your everyday life. This book can take you back in history and draw out the struggles of living as an unmarried woman in the 1800s. I hope my review persuades you to pick up the book for yourself as your next read :)
