Poison: A History and a Family Memoir

by Gail Bell

Book Overview

Winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Award When Dr William Macbeth poisoned two of his sons in 1927, his wife and sister hid the murders in the intensely private realm of family secrets. Macbeth... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312306792
• ISBN13: 9780312306793
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A complex but compelling read

An odd little book that I wasn't quite sure I liked after reading the first chapter, however I persevered and I am glad that I did. Gail Bell the author, a trained Chemist by trade is the Granddaughter of a poisoner, a man who murdered his two eldest sons when they were babies and supposedly got away with it. Or that is what she is told by one of her maternal Aunts and it is this family story that leads Gail into the strange, frightening world of poisons, the people who have used poison for murder, accidental poisoning and how poisons can affect the human body both before and after death. Ms Bell is surprisingly methodical and cold about the use of poison through history, looking at the likes of Cleopatra, and Crippen and analysing their motives for dabbling in the murderous art but as she digs deeper into her own family background she finds that her Grandfather the supposed child poisoner is more complex and elusive than she could ever have imagined and that truth is often really stranger than fiction. This book is quite chaotic as one earlier reviewer said, they are right, Ms Bell is telling two stories, one about her Grandfather, the other about poison itself as weapon for murder but for me the two juxtaposed together quite nicely, and the chaos adds to the strange charm of this book. I liked it but I should warn you it's isn't for the really squeamish and also it isn't for those that want an easy read, because of the "chaotic" writing you need to read it very carefully but for me it was quite riveting and I read it in one sitting and really enjoyed it.