Mad Bad Richard Dadd

The art of dying by

This was the latest book chosen for my book club read. I don’t think any of us were aware it is actually the second book in a series when we picked...

Black 47 dir. by

In 1847 Martin Feeney returns home to Ireland to find his mother and brother dead, his nieces and nephew about to be evicted, and death and starvation everywhere. And then the...

Alias Grace by

Based on the true story of Grace Marks, an infamous murderer in Canada in the 1840’s, Atwood’s book uses different narrators to tell the story, as well as interspersing the story with extracts from other works. From poems, fiction, newspapers of the time, and other sources. Although this is based on the real story, Atwood has, of course, fictionalised a great deal of the novel.

The two narrators are Grace herself, who tells her story in the first person, past tense, and Simon Jordan, the doctor investigating her claims of insanity or innocence. His parts are told by a third person narrator, and are in the present tense.

A Study in Scarlet by

Sherlock Holmes #1, available on gutenberg. In 1881, after returning from Afghanistan Doctor John Watson is in need of rest and recuperation. He is also in need of a place to...

Mad Bad Richard Dadd by

Mad Bad Richard Dadd has been commissioned by Sir Thomas to paint a record of their journey through Europe. But travelling from Greece he is visited one night by a strange figure calling himself Osiris. But that is just a name this figure has taken, he is insistent that he is no supernatural character.

Dadd is a real-life character, a famous Victorian painter, and infamously a murderer. This is a possible telling of how he became this murderer.