The Glassmaker's Wife
-
- CHF 11.00
-
- CHF 11.00
Publisher Description
In August of 1844, a
man named Leonard Reed takes violently ill at his home near Heathsville, Illinois,
and four days later he is dead. The cause? Arsenic poisoning.
The suspect? His
wife, Betsey.
The chief witnesses
against her? A hired girl, Eveline Deal, and the local apothecary, James Logan.
The evidence? Eveline claims she saw Betsey put a pinch of white powder in
Leonard’s coffee.
Betsey Reed, a woman
who dabbles in herbal healing, is known about town as a witch. As the gossip
and the circumstantial evidence mount, Betsey finds herself under the shadow of
a trial—and a noose.
A historical crime inspired by the true story of Betsey Reed, for fans of The Trial of Lizzie Borden and The Good Sister, Lee
Martin’s latest weaves a tale of a pinch of white powder, a scorched paper, a community
hungry for a villain, and a young girl’s first taste of revenge—but above all,
of the contradictions and imperfections of the human heart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Martin (Yours, Jean) draws on a sensationalized 1844 murder trial for this clever yarn. Leonard Reed, the glassmaker of Heathsville, Ill., dies suddenly after a brief illness. Later, Eveline Deal, the Reeds' hired girl, claims she'd seen Leonard's wife, Betsy, pour white powder into Leonard's coffee before he fell ill. Betsy claims the powder was just the salt that Leonard liked, but the resulting symptoms, coupled with a statement from the apothecary, James Logan, that the paper Eveline witnessed in Betsy's possession matched the kind he wrapped arsenic in, lead the coroner to rule that Leonard was murdered. Logan adds that he believes he may have sold the poison to Betsy while she was in disguise. Once a test confirms the presence of arsenic in Leonard's stomach, his widow, who some locals already believe is a witch, is charged with murder, leading to a dramatic trial in which she's defended by the governor-elect and the former attorney general. As Martin shifts between Eveline's and to Betsy's perspectives, a fuller sense of the truth emerges, and he captures the closed-mindedness of a small community willing to believe the worst of one of its own. Historical fiction fans will have a ball.
