Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I think that the students in our school library need to hear lots of diverse voices and read stories and lives of many different kinds of people and experiences. When I inherited the library it was an incredibly sanitised space with only 'school readers' and project books on 'the railways' etc. Buying in books that will appeal to the whole range of our readers with diverse voices, eclectic and fascinating subject matter, and topics that will intrigue and fascinate them was incredibly important to me.
This is a book that I think our senior readers will enjoy very much indeed - not just because it's well written with an arresting voice that will really keep them reading and about a fascinating topic - but it's also a book that doesn't feel worthy or improving, it doesn't scream 'school library and treats them like young reading adults who have the right to explore a range of modern diverse reads that will grip and intrigue them and ensure that reading isn't something that they are just forced to do for their English project - this was a solid ten out of ten for me and I'm hoping that our students are as gripped and caught up in it as I was. It was one that I stayed up far too late reading and one that I'll be recommending to the staff as well as our senior students - thank you so much for the chance to read and review; I really loved it and can't wait to discuss it with some of our seniors once they've read it too!

Having found, “Handsome Brute: The Story of a Ladykiller,” by Sean O’Connor , a fascinating, historical true crime read, I was keen to read this. It involves a murder, which took place in 1935, in the leafy, quiet, seaside town of Bournemouth. The victim a retired, Canadian architect; the suspects, his second wife, the much younger, Mrs Rattenbury, and their chauffeur/handyman, Stoner.

Like many such true crime books, this is not just about the crime. O’Connor obviously does tell us about those involved, the time leading up to the murder, plus the trial and the aftermath but, in a way, this is also about the era and of how women, accused of crimes, were treated in that era. It is, also, very much about Alma Rattenbury herself – born in England, her family emigrated to Canada, where she became a musical prodigy. She married more than once and, like so many women of her era, lost her first husband in WWI.

It is interesting to note that women were often judged fairly harshly if they ended up in the dock, but there were emotive reactions, from those involved in the executions of women, in that era. Certainly, women accused of capital crimes aroused strong passions and, later, it would be the hanging of Ruth Ellis which helped see the death penalty banned in England. Alma Rattenbury certainly aroused such passions, and she was front page news for many weeks at the time of her arrest and trial, which is recreated in great detail here.

This was an interesting account of, not just a crime, but of the way women were viewed in the 1930’s, by public, press and the law. It would be a good choice for reading groups, as it has much to discuss. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury has a thrilling premise but a mediocre delivery. Sean O’Connor’s narrative voice lacks pacing, and the scope of the novel is too narrow to justify the length. At times, I wished that he would get to the point.

Had this book been presented as a social history it would have been much more intriguing. O’Connor would have then been justified in further delving into the lives of the other murderesses mentioned.

As it stands, the text is presented as a story, rather than as a reality. Sure, it’s steeped in the personal history of both Alma and Francis and their descendants, but it feels as if you’ve been immersed in a fantasy rather than the 19th to 21st century realities. O’Connor’s impartial writing further heightens this, and Alma is presented as an unsettled woman who just wanted to protect her young lover.

I would recommend this book if you are particularly interested in the Rattenbury trial and are seeking the additional information released due to the age of the case. It may also be of interest if you prefer to read true crime which focuses more on those involved than the crime itself.

The compelling life story and tragedy of Alma Rattenbury. Traced from her childhood as a musical prodigy when she was hailed as a genius concert pianist, through to her heroic bravery working as an auxiliary nurse on the frontline during World War One, and her ultimately fatal marriage to renowned Canadian architect Francis Rattenbury. Alma’s story is grippingly evoked by Sean O’Connor whose forensic attention to detail is stunningly impressive. It is in many ways a discredit to this book that it is categorised in the true crime genre. Whilst it certainly is the real-life story of the murder of Francis Rattenbury, and Alma’s subsequent trial along with her teenage lover, George Stoner, this book is so much more than this.

O’Connor’s evocation of social history encompasses the class system, capital punishment gender stereotypes and the vitriol of the tabloid press (in their reporting of the murder trial) captures the zeitgeist of 1930’s reflects the mores against which Alma - and women generally were judged. This interleaving of the Rattenbury case with other people and cases, was for me, the most riveting aspect of this fascinating read. Alma is drawn as a three-dimensional woman who was in many ways ahead of her time with what was often considered to be her flagrant disregard for the rigid boundaries of class and gender. I was truly moved by her demise and the unflinching honesty with which the author revealed a full-bodied portrait of a woman who was complex, conflicted and it seems, woefully misunderstood.

Without mitigating in any way the tragic and brutal murder of her husband, O’Connor skilfully avoids making any judgements about Alma’s many dubious choices and this impartiality is successfully imparted to the reader. Equally impressive is his sensitive and poignant exploration of the continuing reverberations of Francis Rattenbury’s murder more than fifty years after on their children, servants and the subsequent occupants of what had become the infamous crime scene: Villa Madeira.

One of the journalist’s reporting at Alma’s trial saw in her echoes of Madame Bovary and I can give this book no greater accolade than for me to have also been left drawing comparisons between Alma and one of the greatest flawed heroines in fiction.

After reading about this book I felt i had to request it, and kept my fingers crossed that I'd be accepted.
The author, Sean O'Connor has done a fantastic job with this, It hooked me from the very first page... i just kept reading and reading.

This is the story of musician Alma Rattenbury aged 44, and the murder of her husband Francis (Ratz). 1935 Bournemouth, the news that rocked the country, sex,interwoven with drink and drugs... and a lover George Stoner (just 18 years old) this caused a tabloid sensation in the press. The author tells the story in a very detailed way which I found both informative and easy to take in. The tale however, just shook me. It was engrossing and intriguing. The heartbreak, the tragedy.... I recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading true crime.

4 stars.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read in return for an honest review.

In 1935 Alma Rattenbury (44), together with her young lover Stoner (18) the family chauffeur, will be jointly tried for the murder of her older husband in their house in Bournemouth a few months previously. It has been described as “the defining murder trial of the mid war years”. Alma will be found not guilty, but will commit suicide shortly after. Stoner, guilty, avoids the death penalty and will later receive early release and live for another 60 + years. The trial attracted a huge amount of media attention at the time and generated a slew of subsequent publications, poetry, plays, fiction and analyses. O’Connor positions this book by pointing out that a number of previously unavailable documents about the participants are now accessible and will be used here.
It should be said that the media response to the events was also a trial of the mid wars middle class woman – voraciously exposing salacious sexual details, drug and drink use of this case. While ignoring the clear vagaries of men, seeing these women generally as lazy, unfocussed, media and consumer driven and often displaying signs of moral degeneracy. It is not made absolutely explicit that this is the post war generation of women many of whom lost their prospective husbands and families. Nor that grief and trauma can last a lifetime. O’Connor has presented this book to mimic a play in format; but does try to more seriously bed the story in its time, place, people and their reactions. This improves the tale, but could maybe have had more bite.
It should be said that even for its time the police response seemed remarkably casual or complacent when they encounter a dying man in an armchair with serious (fatal) head wounds. Hard to believe is the response of the family doctor – perhaps worried about the state of Alma who he has apparently been prescribing a huge cocktail of legal and illegal drugs. In the absence of modern NHS or emergency services we take for granted nowadays, Rattenbury is left without effective care for hours before being removed to a private nursing home & useless surgery. These vignettes – medical, police, prison, trial, family reactions – are the nub of the tale and make the re-telling worthwhile.
To return to the title “the fatal passion of Alma Rattenbury” – this is the key question that lies behind the tale. How could Alma have got herself so blatantly involved with an 18 year old described in some places as simple? How could she have let the situation develop to this gruesome crisis? This may be a true story but it is hard to absorb. O’Connor has discovered, and reveals, a lot of her back history. Born in Canada (yes a foreigner, that might explain a lot, hint the press) to parents newly emigrated with the rest of the family. They were musical and deeply involved in the London Music Halls before financially they had to move on. All worked in music – Alma was a professional musician by 16. Married shortly after, her first husband will die on the Western Front in 1916. By January ’17 she is – an extraordinary tale – working as an orderly at the Scottish Women’s Hospital in Belgium before transferring to the French Red Cross as an ambulance driver – she will be wounded in a shell attack. Re-married after the war her increasingly erratic husband will leave her with a young son to support. Back in Canada she will eventually marry Rattenbury. He is older and supposedly a successful architect – who will prove to be an unsuccessful speculator. Back in England - she will be trying to support the family through her music. He will be relying on unrealistic new schemes and it seems his mental condition deteriorates as the pressures rise. Alma needs to hold the family together. She struggles. Disaster for all of them.
A very full book then for readers and book groups to get their teeth into. I would have liked more focus on the war background of Alma, her stresses and the drugs she was obviously embedded in. But then the murder and trial was always considered more important than the woman.