People of Abandoned Character

by Clare Whitfield

Overview

What if you thought your husband was Jack the Ripper?

London, 1888. Susannah rushes into marriage to a young and wealthy surgeon. After a passionate honeymoon, she returns home with her new husband wrapped around her little finger. But then everything changes. His behaviour becomes increasingly volatile and violent. He stays out all night, returning home bloodied and full of secrets.

Lonely and frustrated, Susannah starts following the gruesome reports of a spate of murders in Whitechapel. But as the killings continue, her mind takes her down the darkest path imaginable. Every time he stays out late, another victim is found dead. Is it coincidence? Or is her husband the man the papers call Jack the Ripper?

Reviews for People of Abandoned Character:

'A mistreated wife suspects her husband might be the Whitechapel killer... Compelling' Sunday Times

'An astonishing book' M.W. Craven

'A gripping and original take on the world's most notorious serial killer. A perfectly thrilling read for those long winter nights' Adam Hamdy

'This impressive debut builds up pace, pathos and intrigue superbly, with plenty of twists and turns' Woman's Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781838932756
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	07/01/2021
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.75(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Clare Whitfield was born in 1978 in Morden (at the bottom of the Northern line) in Greater London. After university she worked at a publishing company before going on to hold various positions in buying and marketing. She now lives in Hampshire with her family. Her debut novel, People of Abandoned Character, won the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award and is also published by Head of Zeus.

Editorial Reviews

An astonishing book set in a Victorian London plagued by Jack the Ripper. Whitfield's narrator is Susannah, an ex-nurse who rushed into a rapidly souring marriage with a wealthy surgeon and starts to believe that her husband might be Leather Apron himself. I'd be amazed if it isn't dominating the shortlists come next year's awards season” —MW Craven

“This impressive debut builds superbly, with plenty of twists and turns” —Woman & Home

“A gripping and original take on the world's most notorious serial killer. A perfectly thrilling read for those long winter nights. Highly recommended” —Adam Hamdy

“A mistreated wife suspects her husband might be the Whitechapel killer... Compelling'” —Sunday Times

“A historical crime novel with real attitude... Compelling, thought-provoking, and powerful'” —LoveReading

“This impressive debut builds up pace, pathos and intrigue superbly, with plenty of twists and turns'” —Woman's Weekly

“Shockingly compelling” —Woman

“In addition to being a thrilling page-turner, Whitfield's book explores several questions: What makes a person good or bad? Can we overcome our origins? Is our fate determined before we're born? Moreover, the book is rife with dangerous secrets – Thomas's, Susannah's, and those of the people closest to them” —Austin American Statesman

“This debut historical mystery contains echoes of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Jack the Ripper.The unreliable narration combines with richly detailed writing in a mystery with a shocking conclusion” —Library Journal

“People Of Abandoned Character interrogates this fascinating aspect of storytelling while positing an unconventional solution to the Jack the Ripper mystery... This is a smart, thrilling narrative that doesn't shy away from gore or trauma, steadfastly reflecting through its Victorian lens how our own modern societies continue to treat women and the poor. That this is Clare Whitfield's debut novel only adds to how impressive it is as a feat of empathetic, feminist storytelling'” —Criminal Element

From the Publisher

03/01/2021

In 1888, Susannah Chapman, the narrator of Whitfield’s uneven debut, marries Thomas Lancaster, a surgeon at London Hospital, where she used to work as a nurse. Susannah, who grew up poor, looks forward to a comfortable life with Thomas, but after their blissful honeymoon, he starts treating her harshly and exhibits a violent streak. The morning after the murder of a prostitute, who’s later identified as possibly Jack the Ripper’s first victim, Susannah finds scratches on Thomas’s neck, which he claims were inflicted by a cat he tried to rescue, and she spots his fiercely loyal housekeeper, who was once his nanny, trying to wash bloodstains out of the doctor’s shirts. Her suspicions only increase as the killing spree, attributed to the Ripper, continues. Whitfield does a decent job of keeping her audience guessing whether the obvious explanation is the true one, but the closing revelations come as a letdown. Readers interested in a similar plotline will be better served by Peter Ackroyd’s superior The Trial of Elizabeth Cree. (May)

Publishers Weekly

★ 04/01/2021

Susannah Chapman has always hidden her past, even when she studied nursing in London. In 1888, she considers herself lucky to marry Dr. Thomas Lancaster, a surgeon. On her honeymoon, he worships her, and she discovers she married a hedonist who draws her into his lifestyle, including liquor and laudanum. When they return to his house in Chelsea her insecurity returns in the face of a now abusive, angry husband, and Mrs. Wiggs, a housekeeper who frightens her. When violent murders occur in Whitechapel, and Thomas returns home in the early hours of the morning, covered in blood, Susannah begins to suspect he might be the killer she's reading about in the newspapers. Her suspicions lead her to the streets of Whitechapel and into trouble, as Mrs. Wiggs and Thomas turn on her, with plans to send her to an asylum. Her defenses crumble as her husband twists her comments and uses her past secrets against her. But Thomas's own actions have repercussions, bringing violence into the house on the day Susannah tries to flee her prison. VERDICT This debut historical mystery contains echoes of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Jack the Ripper. The unreliable narrator combines with richly detailed writing in a mystery with a shocking conclusion.—Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Library Journal