Suicide Bride: A Mystery of Tragedy and Family Secrets in Edwardian Sydney

by Tanya Bretherton PhD in sociology

Overview

The charlatan Alicks Sly murdered his wife, Ellie, and killed himself with a cut-throat razor in a house in Sydney's Newtown in early 1904, leaving their children to a wretched fate. He wasn't the only man to murder his wife - or try - that year. Life in the big city could be harsh and brutal, and so could marriage.

Sociologist Tanya Bretherton traces the brutal story of Ellie, one of several murderer's brides in turn-of-the-century Sydney; of her husband, Alicks, and his family; and their three orphaned sons, adrift in the world.

From the author of the acclaimed THE SUITCASE BABY - shortlisted for the 2018 Ned Kelly Award, Danger Prize and Waverley Library 'Nib' Award - comes another riveting true-crime case from Australia's dark past. THE MURDERER'S BRIDE is a masterful exploration of criminality, insanity, violence and bloody family ties in bleak, post-Victorian Sydney.

**Includes an extract from THE SUITCASE BABY and an extract from Tanya Bretherton's latest fascinating true-crime story, THE KILLING STREETS**

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780733640995
Publisher:	Hachette Australia
Publication date:	04/23/2019
Series:	The Australian Crime Vault
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Tanya Bretherton has a PhD in sociology with special interests in narrative life history and social history. She has published in the academic and public sphere for twenty years, and worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney for fifteen years. Dr Bretherton's specialty is converting detailed research into thought-provoking works which are accessible to a general readership. Currently she works as a freelance researcher and writer.

Her first book, The Suitcase Baby, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award, the Danger Prize and the Waverley Library 'Nib' Award. Her second book The Suicide Bride, was shortlisted for the Danger Prize and in 2020 she won the Danger Prize for The Killing Streets.

Table of Contents

1 Tragedy strikes 1

2 The call-out 7

3 The deadline 24

4 Black and white and read all over 38

5 Bad apple 54

6 Cold comfort 68

7 Low-hanging fruit 80

8 Mother's sad mistake 100

9 Tragedy unfolds 116

10 The inquest 136

11 Marriage, murder and meteorology 156

12 Second-hand goods 174

13 The sword of St Michael 196

14 Making ends meet 211

1 15 A happy death 235

16 Victory in the Pacific 244

17 In the shade of the old apple tree 266

18 Epitaph 284

Acknowledgements 291

Endnotes 293