The Trial Of Elizabeth Cree [Audio Cassette]

Peter Ackroyd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 1997

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 Elizabeth Cree 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.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest from Ackroyd (English Music) is a deft, if somewhat cerebral and cold-blooded, exercise in historical crime fiction set in a late-Victorian London teeming with intellectual activity, extreme poverty and all manner of sensational public spectacles. A blend of trial transcripts, first-person accounts and microscopic biographical studies of illustrious 19th-century lives, the story is an impressive feat of historical fidelity and fictional artistry. In a marvelous coda, Ackroyd even unites his protagonists in the audience of a theater, to watch a play based on the gruesome events of the novel. The story opens with the trial and execution of former music-hall actress Elizabeth Cree, convicted of poisoning her husband, John Cree, whose diary entries suggest that he is the "Limehouse Golem," a serial killer stalking the squalid, smog-choked streets of London's Jewish district. Around these grisly deeds weave the intersecting paths of Ackroyd's nonfictional characters, including George Gissing, Karl Marx and popular theater star Dan Leno, who haunt the Reading Room of the British Museum and the chiarascuro streets of the city. The Golem's identity, in a not unexpected plot twist, is ultimately found among the protean personae of the theater world. Yet Ackroyd reminds us at every turn that his fictional whodunit enfolds a larger, unsolvable mystery, a mystery of London itself, and of the solace that its populace finds in popular spectacles of sensational crime and violence.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Mixing history with liberal doses of invention, Ackroyd (English Music, LJ 9/15/92) presents a dark, atmospheric portrait of Victorian London. While bringing in everyone from an elderly Karl Marx to a youthful George Gissing, he focuses on Elizabeth Cree, who is on trial for her husband's murder. Ackroyd uses the transcripts of Cree's trial to set the stage for a series of flashbacks tracing her squalid beginnings in Lambeth Marsh, her days in comedian Dan Leno's music hall troupe, and her eventual marriage to journalist John Cree. Set against this is a diary, purportedly by John, that details the murderous exploits of the "Limehouse Golem." In Elizabeth's pathology, Ackroyd finds a harbinger for the social malignancies of our own age. An intellectually stimulating, if grisly, historical thriller. Recommended for most collections.
-?Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Books on Tape, Inc. (March 3, 1997)
• ISBN-10: 0736636277
• ISBN-13: 978-0736636278
• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,431,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chilling mystery set in 1880's London, May 8, 2004

By 

Peter LaPrade (worcester ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Trial of Elizabeth Cree (Hardcover)

After I finished "The Trial of Elizabeth Cree", I felt chilled by how Ackroyd strings us along for the whole novel, and blows us out of the water with an unexpected revelation. Set in 1880 and in London, there are a series of murders, and some suspect that a being out of kabalistic lore is responsible. We, who can see through the eyes of the Crees know better; the murderer is fully human, and quite the picture of human evil. Along the way, we meet a few 19th century luminaries, and see how they are intertwined in the plot. Ackroyd did well here, and I hope more people discover this novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!, September 28, 2007

By 

Mohit Nayyar (Champaign, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Trial of Elizabeth Cree (Hardcover)

I think how much you like a book very often depends on how you're feeling about life as you read it. If that is the only factor, then I must have been in one hell-of-a-mood as I read this one. What a great book! I could, prior to reading this book, never have imagined reading a book about a psychopath, judging by what I usually read at that time. But I'm so glad I did! I was introduced to the author through his book 'Chatterton' by a now-estranged friend. Whereas that book was passable, this one, in my opinion, is exceptional!

I'll try and write a couple of sentences which are actually about the book now: I think the main sellers of the book are its plot ofcourse, its simplicity, and the pacing, which is sheer genius. I'm a sucker for simplicity if the language is elegant--which it is in this case--when it offsets a very unusual storyline. Should also mention the atmosphere of the book: its descriptions of London in that period seems very plausible and authentic. Loved swimming in the dark hues of the book. (Never mind that this seems to counter my opening conjecture!) Love the book, especially it's unpredictability! A must read guys, this one is one of those undiscovered treasures.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In search of 'The Limehouse Golem', December 6, 2007

By 

J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Trial of Elizabeth Cree (Hardcover)

A clever and engaging novel, with an interesting blend of probability and possibility.

Who murdered whom, and why? There is more than one murder, and potentially a number of murderers in this novel and Mr Ackroyd provides some intriguing possibilities.

The year is 1880, and in a novel inhabited with real people as well as with entirely plausible characters, we set off to dissect the life and times of Elizabeth Cree who is on trial for the murder of her husband.

We meet Karl Marx and George Gissing. We spend time in London's variety theatre and we become all too familiar with life in Victorian London.

Some readers will enjoy the elements of mystery, others will enjoy the superb writing. I enjoyed it all.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith