Win The Damnation Of John Donellan: A Mysterious Case Of Death And Scandal In Georgian England Sketched By Elizabeth Cooke Represented In Digital Copy

real life Georgian England murder mystery, A suspect is identified, tried and executed, but did he really do it The murder of Sir Theodosius Broughtonor maybe the notmurder of Sir Theodosius Broughton, since Cooke's speculation that he was a epileptic, b killing himself with quack medicinesth century "cures" for syphilis all involve great quantities of mercury, or c both, seems not unreasonableand the question of who did it.
Did John Donellan kill hisyear old brother in law, or did Sir Theodosius' mother kill him Since everything we've got is documents fromwhen neither forensic science nor

medical science was even invented yet, all Cooke can do is speculate and I don't buy all of her speculations, but she certainly raises enough reasonable doubt to make it clear that Donellan should not have been convicted and hanged for his brotherinlaw's death.
This book was too all over the place, Jumping between generations of family that share similar names several generations of Edwards for example left a large chunk of this confusing to follow.
A lot of the family backgrounds also seemed to be unnecessary and "filler" content,

I am a pretty big fan of true crime, but I personally didn't enjoy this one, The sordid underbelly of Georgian England made for very interesting reading, The author's research and excellent storytelling kept me engrossed in the aftermath of the mysterious death of a debauchedyearold ! aristocrat.
Unlike most fictional mysteries, the players in this story acted in seemingly contradictory and confusing ways, as real people do.
There was never a clear villain, but several people with motive and means to do away with Theodosius Boughton.
The train wreck of a trial was painful to read, but confirms that there was and is "nothing new under the sun.
" An interesting look at the justice system ins England, Did he Didnt he It will never be definitively known now, obviously, with the passage of so much time but what is fascinating is learning how the case played out at the time.
I read the beginning, skimmed/ignored the entire court proceedings, and read the finalchapters, I read this book due to the poisoning aspect, which takes place in the exact same year as my current WIP,.
I didn't learn anything new, so I must have gotten the research right,
I came away from this story disgusted by the court system in the case of John Donellan the man never had a chance.

When his young brotherinlaw dies suddenly with convulsions, after drinking a draught, Donellan is blamed for the simple fact that he has rinsed out the medicine bottle afterwards, an action that Donellan never explains.
His BIL, soon to be a baronet, is a dissolute rogue who is already infected with syphilis, He would have bankrupted the family, His mother also acted in suspicious ways right before the death, but she is treated as "beyond reproach, "
Donellan, a boastful, rather selfserving man, who married the baronet's sister, was a devoted husband and father, who ran the estate while his BIL brawled in taverns and debauched with women.

I felt sorry for Donellan's ordeal, and the way his wife deserts him at the end, He wasn't perfect, but did not deserve his fate, This book is excruciatingly researched, My eyes crossed with irritation as I read the minutiae of the legal system inth century England, If you are outraged by the fact that the aristocracy would always throw the nonaristocracy to the wolves, if you love endless genealogies of families who give their first male child the same name amp in one instance ALL their children, then this book is for you.
If you aren't excited by interpreting history by today's standards amp knowledge, forget it, This book ads nothing tot the discussion of class structure, nor does it lay to rest the mystery of Donellan's guilt.
This is the fascinating story of the delightfully named Theodosius Boughton, heir to a vast fortune and the seventh Boughton baronetcy, who died at the age of only twenty less than a year before he due to inherit.
Theodosius was a young man who loved life he fought in taverns, was known for his carousing, loved women and contracted VD whilst still a student at Eton.
When we meet him he has been taking medication for his "condition", although he was not good about taking his medicine.
On the morning ofth Augusthis mother, Lady Anna Maria Boughton, gave him his prescribed physic and insisted he take it, despite his disgust at the taste.
Shortly after swallowing the mixture, he was dead,

What follows is a battle between Lady Anna Maria and her daughter's the equally delightfully named Theodosia husband John Donellan.
Did somebody tamper with Theodosius's physick Was Anna Maria attempting to blackmail Donellan into doing what she wanted within hours of her sons death Did Donellan's refusal to do what Anna Maria wanted lead to his arrest on purely circumstantial evidence, or was he a fortune hunter who resented his younger brother in law This book is full of scandal, gossip and sheer horror including a ghoulish public autopsy where the corpse was reported to be, "a spectacle of horror scarce to be endured" and the death of a servant who may have had vital evidence.


Both the death and the trial are wonderfully recreated and the whole book, including the conclusion, well documented and interesting, if often sad.
Whether Donellan was guilty or not, it is certain that he never had a fair trial, but read this yourself and make your own mind up.
It is guaranteed you will be unable to put this down until you have finished it, Interesting, but you have to LOVE minutiae, I ended up skimming the book, and don't think I missed too much, This is a shocking tale of greed and family betrayal, In AugustSir Theodosius Boughton, a dissolute Old Etonian twentyyearold and heir to a Warwickshire fortune, died in painful convulsions after taking his medicine.
The following year after an inquest and trial which became a cause celebre, his brotherinlaw, Captain John 'Diamond' Donellan, Irish soldier of fortune and man about town, was tried for his murder.
The trial was a shambles, Was Donellan guilty Based on extensive research and the engrossing trial transcripts Elizabeth Cooke's book shows the dark and violent underside of the society of Mansfield Park.
A fascinating read for anyone with an interest in history,

John Donellan was a former army officer, returned from serving in India, who married the heiress to a title, lands and hall in Warwickshire in theth century.
The case of his accusation and trial was a cause celebre in its day and was debated for many years after.


Elizabeth Cookes book is an entertaining read that could quite easily been buried in dry facts, She brings a sense of the times to the events that happened at Lawford Hall during that warm summer of.
The young Baronet, a headstrong womaniser, had come down with syphilis and was under the care of the local apothecary.
What truly happened that day in August is still shrouded in mystery and conjecture,

Rumour had it that Theodocius Boughton had been poisoned, Whether this was true or not, was less concerning than the rumour, Once the rumour was started, the search was on for a poisoner, irrespective of whether a poisoning took place.
The accused was John Donellan,

The book follows the aftermath of the death and the subsequent trial of Donellan, followed by an analysis by the author and the thoughts of others that had looked at the case in the subsequent years.


Whilst entertaining, this is not a classic whodunit, Unlike fiction, factual events rarely have clear cut and definitive answers, so anyone looking for a simple was Donellan guilty will be disappointed.
However, the journey is worth the time and provides an entertaining read,

The editing is of a high quality with few grammatical errors,
I was expecting a lot from this book but it was really dry and hard to get through.
Pages and pages are taken up with tiny details of the trial like whether a cork was put into a bottle lightly or firmly.
Just not interesting. A young baronet dies just before he reaches his majority was he poisoned by his brother in law, by his mother or did he just die of 'natural' causes due to being epileptic and syphillitic.
This book examines the case and the suspects and tells the story of how John Donellan was executed as a murderer.
Interesting read about crime and punishment in Georgian England, Interesting topic and a well written book, but it went on way too long for the information available, This is basically a long magazine article that has been stretched into a book, Lost interest. Its a very slow and almost painful detailed book, Maybe some other time, but now Id rather read things I genuinely enjoy, Found it hard to read through, Found the last few chapters starting from chapterto be more interesting, This book COULD have been promising, but it is another case of an author thinking that what they think is fascinating will enthrall everyone else.
Cooke is repetitive, stating and restating the same piece of evidence over and over, while mentioning other important "pieces" of the mystery once.
See: motive children. Also, if readers don't understand the English judicial system, they can look into it on their own, Once again, I am left asking WHY DO I CARE What is this saying about anything, really Why is it worth my time Well, presented like this, it's not.
See also sitelink Elizabeth McGregor and sitelink Holly Fox, Elizabeth Cooke lives in Dorset in southern England and is the author of fourteen novels, many of which she wrote under the pseudonym Elizabeth McGregor, as well as a work of nonfiction, The Damnation of John Donellan: A Mysterious Case of Death and Scandal in Georgian England.
Acclaimed for her vivid, emotionally powerful storytelling and rigorous historical accuracy, Cooke has developed an international reputation, She is best known for her novels Rutherford Park and The Ice Child, Her work has been translated into numerous languages, See also sitelink Elizabeth McGregor and sitelink Holly Fox, Elizabeth Cooke lives in Dorset in southern England and is the author of fourteen novels, many of which she wrote under the pseudonym Elizabeth McGregor, as well as a work of nonfiction, The Damnation of John Donellan: A Mysterious Case of Death and Scandal in Georgian England.
Acclaimed for her vivid, emotionally powerful storytelling and rigorous historical accuracy, Cooke has developed an international reputation, She is best known for her novels Rutherford Park and The Ice Child, Her work has been translated into numerous languages, sitelink.