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The charlatan Alicks Sly murdered his wife, Ellie, and killed himself with a cut-throat razor in a house in Sydney’s Newtown in early 1904, leaving their children to a wretched fate. He wasn’t the only man to murder his wife – or try – that year. Life in the big city could be harsh and brutal, and so could marriage.

Sociologist Tanya Bretherton traces the brutal story of Ellie, one of several murderer’s brides in turn-of-the-century Sydney; of her husband, Alicks, and his family; and their three orphaned sons, adrift in the world.

From the author of the acclaimed THE SUITCASE BABY – shortlisted for the 2018 Ned Kelly Award, Danger Prize and Waverley Library ‘Nib’ Award – comes another riveting true-crime case from Australia’s dark past. THE MURDERER’S BRIDE is a masterful exploration of criminality, insanity, violence and bloody family ties in bleak, post-Victorian Sydney. pp. 311 #0220/0321