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The Trial of Elizabeth Cree
The Trial of Elizabeth Cree
Author: Peter Ackroyd
A literary star returns with an addictive tale of  murder in Victorian London. Peter Ackroyd is  "our most exciting and original writer... one of  the few English writers of his generation who will  be read in a hundred years' time." --  The Sunday Times (London) The  Trial Of...  more » is without a  doubt Peter Ackroyd's breakout book. It has all the  erudition and literary brilliance we expect of  Ackroyd, yet it is as vivid, scary, and spellbinding  as the best of Edgar Allan Poe. The year is 1880,  the setting London's poor and dangerous Limehouse  district, home to immigrants and criminals. A  series of brutal murders has occurred, and, as Ackroyd  leads us down London's dark streets, the sense of  time and place becomes overwhelmingly immediate  and real. We experience the sights and sounds of the  English music halls, smell the smells of London  slums, hear the hooves of horses on the cobblestone  streets, and attend the trial of Elizabeth Cree, a  woman accused of poisoning her husband but who may  be the one person who knows the truth about the  murders. The wonderfully rhythmic shifting of focus  from trial to back alleys, where we come upon  George Gissing, author of New Grub  Street, and even Karl Marx, gives the story a  tremendous depth and resonance beyond its page-turning  thriller plot. In The Trial Of Elizabeth  Cree, Peter Ackroyd has once again  confirmed his place as one of the great writers of our  time.
ISBN-13: 9780385477079
ISBN-10: 0385477074
Publication Date: 4/1/1995
Pages: 261
Rating:
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 16

3.4 stars, based on 16 ratings
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio Cassette
Members Wishing: 0
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