The Arsenic Eater’s Wife
From the outside looking in, Constance Sullivan has everything a Victorian woman could want – beauty, wealth, a loving husband, a glittering social circle in Liverpool, and adorable children. But under the surface, all is rot and decay. With infidelity on both sides, Constance’s marriage with her much older husband, William, is volatile and soul-destroying. Her mother’s money is all that keeps them afloat, household servants spy and scheme, and Constance’s trust is terribly misplaced. In addition to everything else, William is a hypochondriac who suffers increasing bouts of ill health due to his penchant for regularly taking a powder of arsenic and strychnine as “medicine.” Though this is common knowledge, when he dies, Constance is astounded to find herself arrested for his murder, with the witnesses ranged against her those she’d thought her closest friends.
Mitchell has based her tale on the real-life case of Florence Maybrick, who suffered a heinous miscarriage of justice at the hands of the British legal system. Jumping back and forth in time to portray the disintegration of Constance’s marriage, the circumstances of the “crime,” and the outcome of the trial and its aftermath, the novel maintains a gripping pace. The reader is far more astute at reading the people in Constance’s life than is Constance herself, resulting in a sense of helpless dread as she speeds towards her fate. Characterization is strong, dialogue well-written, and there is an element of melodrama added at the end to offer a more satisfying conclusion than that the real-life Maybrick was afforded. An absorbing read, especially for fans of Victorian gothic.
