Historical true crime comes to life with this fictionalized account of a nineteenth-century murder that changed the course of British legal history.
England, 1817. In the small hours of May 27th, a young servant girl from the village of Erdington left a party in the company of a man with a bad reputation. A few hours later, Mary Ashford's lifeless body was found drowned in a pond.
Despite a seemingly solid alibi, Abraham Thornton is soon on trial for his life—only to be acquitted at the direction of the judge. Public opinion across the country is outraged, with everyone convinced that a murderer has evaded the gallows.
In a last-ditch effort to find justice, Mary's brother uses an archaic legal process to prosecute Thornton again, only to find himself confronted with an extraordinary challenge. In court, Thornton throws down a gauntlet and demands his legal right to trial by combat . . . and the outcome will alter the course of English legal history.
A many-layered fictionalized account,
The Murder of Mary Ashford examines the particulars of this famous case while exploring the birth of forensic investigation, the meaning of sexual consent, and the struggle of a modern state to emerge from its medieval heritage.
- 224 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
Information
Print ISBN
9781473863385
Table of contents
- Cover
- Dedication
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Measurements
- Characters
- Introduction
- PART 1
- PART 2
- PART 3
- Voluntary Examination of Abraham Thornton
- Omar Hall’s Statement to John Y. Bedford
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Sources
- Plate section
Trusted by 375,005 students
Access to over 1.5 million titles for a fair monthly price.
Study more efficiently using our study tools.