The Wicked Boy : The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer (Hardcover)

from Judiex

The time: July 1895. The place, East London. Robert Coombes, age 13, and his younger brother Nattie were spending their summer hanging around the docks, going to coffeehouses and theaters and splurging on things that caught their eyes. After ten days, their aunt realized what they were doing and ...

from m_k_m

Though ostensibly about the case of juvenile murderer Robert Coombes, that's really a guide rope for Kate Summerscale to explore some often-neglected aspects of late Victorian society. It's a period we see or read about so often in films, television series and novels that we probably think we kno...

from Roarer

Beautifully written account of a tragic death and its consequences. Whilst the book is unable to get inside the child murderer's head, his actions as an adult suggest a remarkable commitment to people needing help. We learn that one answer to the question of what could be worse than a prolonged s...

from Karen.Helfrick

I won an Arc of this novel through Penguin's First to Read program. In July 1895 an 11 year old commits matricide. The press blames education and penny dreadfuls. How the trial, and the rest of Robert Coombes' life shakes out... is unexpected. I enjoyed this. Mainly a biography, partially an exam...

from Darcia

I have mixed feelings about this book. The case itself is intriguing, in that macabre kind of way, and so the book held my interest. But I had problems with the content and story execution. The author clearly did an immense amount of research. We are fully immersed in the era, seeing the picture ...