New Releases by Carol Ann Lee

Soon to be an ITV drama starring Lucy Boynton, A Cruel Love is the definitive story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Britain. Previously published as A Fine Day for a Hanging. 'A forensically researched book that casts a haunting new light on the last woman to be hanged in Britain.' —DAILY MAIL In 1955, former nightclub manageress Ruth Ellis shot her lover, David Blakely, dead. A two-day trial followed, but despite huge public outcry, she was found guilty and sentenced to death. At 28, Ruth became the last woman executed in Britain, her hanging one of the most notorious under prolific hangman Albert Pierrepoint. Carol Ann Lee examines the facts behind the headlines surrounding this infamous case, which many believe led to the dismantling of the death penalty a decade later. Drawing on interviews and in-depth research into the full range of sources, she reveals the woman behind the crime. Previously published as A Fine Day for a Hanging, this is the acclaimed biography that inspired the ITV drama, A Cruel Love – a portrait of 1950s club life in all its seedy glamour, and a tragic true tale of murder, class, love and betrayal. 'Wonderful . . . it will become the standard reference on Ruth Ellis' Stewart P. Evans, crime historian

On 20 August 1612, ten people from Pendle were executed before a vast crowd at Lancaster's Gallows Hill. The condemned and their associates had endured six months of accusations, imprisonment and torture; their treatment was such that one of the group died in Lancaster Castle's dungeons, while awaiting trial. Today, a thriving tourism industry exists in and around Pendle, the former home of the so-called witches, yet virtually everything we know about the case originates from a single source: Thomas Potts' Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches, hurriedly published in 1613 and distinctly skewed in favour of the prosecution. Until now... Sunday Times bestselling author Carol Ann Lee brings an entirely fresh perspective to the story by approaching it as true crime. Having worked in the genre for more than a decade, her research leads to revelatory discoveries, transforming our knowledge of those shadowy figures behind ill-famed names, and the terrible events that befell them. After four centuries of superstition and surmise, the two central, warring families - each headed by a fiercely independent widow working as 'cunning women' - emerge fully formed, as the book uncovers the reality of their lives and their alleged crimes before exploring the trial and executions. Along the way, we uncover the truth behind some of the story's most enduring mysteries: the legend of Malkin Tower and the final resting place of the Pendle witches. This is a ground-breaking book that will take the reader on a spellbinding journey into the dark heart of England's largest and most notorious witch trial.

"There are few criminal cases more astonishing yet less well-known than that of Graham Young. A quintessentially British crime story, it involves two sensational trials, murders both certain and probable, a clutch of forgiving relatives, and scores of surviving victims. A Passion for Poison tells the absorbing life of master poisoner, Graham Young, who killed many tens of people in a murderous career, which began as a 13 year-old schoolboy in a North-west London suburb, with the murder of his step-mother in 1960 before culminating in four further life sentences in 1971. Carol Ann Lee takes the reader on an extraordinary journey through suburban streets with which we are all familiar, but where the commonplace dull, even, soon becomes oppressively sinister. Set against the backdrop of modern Britain, from post-war austerity to the gloom and glam of the 1970s, it sheds light on a rapidly changing society and a gruesome British true crime story"--Publisher's description.

A psychopathic criminal on the run from prison. A family of five held hostage in their home. A frantic police manhunt across the snowbound Derbyshire moors. Just one survivor. The definitive account of the terrifying 1977 Pottery Cottage murders that shocked Britain. For three days, escaped prisoner Billy Hughes played macabre psychological games with Gill Moran and her family, keeping them in separate rooms of their home while secretly murdering them one by one. On several occasions Hughes ordered Gill and her husband Richard to leave the house for provisions, confident that they would return without betraying him in order to protect their loved ones. Blizzards hampered the desperate police search, but they learned where the dangerous convict was hiding and closed in on the cottage. A high-speed car chase on icy roads ended with a crash and the killer being shot as he swung a newly sharpened axe at his final victim. This was Britain's first instance of police officers committing 'justifiable homicide' against an escapee. The story of these terrible events is told here by Carol Ann Lee and Peter Howse, the former chief inspector who saved Gill Moran's life over forty years ago. Peter's professional role has permitted access to witness statements, crime scene photographs and police reports. Peter Howse and Carol Ann Lee have made use of these, along with fresh interviews with many of those directly involved, to tell a fast-paced and truly shocking story with great insight and empathy.

In Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter, Carol Ann Lee tells, for the first time, the stories of those women who came into Sutcliffe's murderous orbit, restoring their individuality to them and giving a voice to their families, including the twenty-three children whom he left motherless.

The Sunday Times bestseller and the definitive story behind the ITV factual drama White House Farm, about the horrific killings that took place in 1985. On 7 August 1985, Nevill and June Bamber, their daughter Sheila and her two young sons Nicholas and Daniel were discovered shot to death at White House Farm in Essex. The murder weapon was found on Sheila's body, a bible lay at her side. All the windows and doors of the farmhouse were secure, and the Bambers' son, 24-year-old Jeremy, had alerted police after apparently receiving a phone call from his father, who told him Sheila had 'gone berserk' with the gun. It seemed a straightforward case of murder-suicide, but a dramatic turn of events was to disprove the police's theory. In October 1986, Jeremy Bamber was convicted of killing his entire family in order to inherit his parents' substantial estates. He has always maintained his innocence. Drawing on interviews and correspondence with many of those closely connected to the events – including Jeremy Bamber – and a wealth of previously unpublished documentation, Carol Ann Lee brings astonishing clarity to a complex and emotive case. She describes the years of rising tension in the family that culminated in the murders, and provides clear insight into the background of each individual and their relationships within the family unit. Scrupulously fair in its analysis, The Murders at White House Farm is an absorbing portrait of a family, a time and a place, and a gripping account of one of Britain's most notorious crimes.

A meticulously researched and ground-breaking new look at the White House Farm Murders of 1986. In October 1986, 24 year-old Jeremy Bamber was convicted of murdering his parents, sister and six year-old twin nephews at White House Farm in Essex. The prosecution argued that he had done so to secure a generous inheritance, and that immediately after the brutal killings, he had placed the gun on his sister's body to convince police that it was a murder-suicide. Ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison, in 1994 Bamber's sentence was increased to whole life. He has always maintained his innocence and in the last couple of years a huge amount of material has come to light -- much of it apparently deliberately suppressed at the time of the trial -- bringing growing support for Bamber, both by forensic experts, in the press, and by the public. Today, at least two MPs are fighting his cause, documentaries question the validity of his conviction, and Bamber's internet profile is so compelling and widespread that it would put a public relations company to shame. Is Jeremy Bamber at the centre of one of the worst miscarriages of justice of our time or is he a cold, calculating killer who continues to exert control from behind bars? In Blood Guilt, bestselling true-crime author Carol Ann Lee has produced the definitive account of one of the most notorious crimes of our time.

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES, A CRUEL LOVE, STARRING LUCY BOYNTON - COMING SOON TO ITV. Ruth Ellis was hanged for the murder of her lover, despite huge public outcry, and became the last woman to be executed in Britain. Against the backdrop of the glamorous 1950s club scene, this is the real Ruth Ellis story: a tragic true tale of murder, class, love and betrayal. "A forensically researched book that casts a haunting new light on the last woman to be hanged in Britain" Daily Mail In 1955, former nightclub manageress Ruth Ellis shot dead her lover, David Blakely. Following a trial that lasted less than two days, she was found guilty and sentenced to death. She became the last woman to be hanged in Britain, and her execution is the most notorious of hangman Albert Pierrepoint's 'duties'. Despite Ruth's infamy, the story of her life has never been fully told. Often wilfully misinterpreted, the reality behind the headlines was buried by an avalanche of hearsay. But now, through new interviews and comprehensive research into previously unpublished sources, Carol Ann Lee examines the facts without agenda or sensation. A portrait of the era and an evocation of 1950s club life in all its seedy glamour, A Fine Day for a Hanging sets Ruth's gripping story firmly in its historical context in order to tell the truth about both her timeless crime and a punishment that was very much of its time.

The chief prosecution witness in the Moors Murders trial gives his account of the case after more than four decades of silence Despite standing as chief prosecution witness in the Moors Murders trial, David Smith was vilified by the public due to the accusations thrown at him by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady about his involvement in their crimes. Hindley's later confession that she and Brady had lied in an attempt to reduce their sentences did little to diminish the slurs against his name. For over four decades, Smith was asked by writers and film-makers to tell his story. Apart from a handful of brief interviews, he always refused. Carol Ann Lee met Smith during her research for One of Your Own, her critically acclaimed biography of Hindley, following which he finally agreed to reveal all. In Evil Relations (previously published as Witness), interviews, archival research and, most significantly, David Smith's own vivid memoir are fused to create an unforgettable, often harrowing account of his life before, during and after the Moors Murders. David Smith lived in rural Ireland with his wife prior to his death in May 2012. He is survived by four children and several grandchildren. Carol Ann Lee is an acclaimed biographer and has written extensively on the Holocaust. Her most recent publication, One of Your Own, focused on the life and death of Myra Hindley.

'Infamous, I have become disowned, but I am one of your own' - Myra Hindley, from her unpublished autobiography On 15 November 2002, Myra Hindley, Britainâe(tm)s most notorious murderess, died in prison, one of the rare women whose crimes were deemed so indefensible that âe~lifeâe(tm) really did mean âe~lifeâe(tm). But who was the woman behind the headlines? How could a seemingly normal girl grow up to commit such terrible acts? Her defenders claim she fell under Ian Bradyâe(tm)s spell, but is this the truth? Was her insistence that she had changed, that she felt deep remorse and had reverted to the Catholicism of her childhood genuine or a calculating bid to win parole? One of Your Own explores these questions and many others, drawing on a wide range of resources, including Hindleyâe(tm)s own unseen writings, hundreds of recently released prison files, fresh interviews and extensive new research. Compellingly well written, this is the first in-depth study of Hindley and the challenging, definitive biography of Britainâe(tm)s âe~most-hated womanâe(tm).

Den 11. november 1920 blir liket av Den ukjente soldat stedt til den siste hvile i Westminster Abbey i London. Alex Dyer har hatt som oppgave å velge ut en død soldat fra de største slagmarkene som skulle representere de millioner av soldater som ble drept i første verdenskrig. Valget skulle være tilfeldig, men Alex har en gjeld å betale til en av de drepte. Hjemsøkt av sorg og minner søker han forlatelse fra sin døde venn Edward Eden.

A heartbreaking and powerful story of personal demons and the hard journey back from an abyss of betrayal in the aftermath of World War I Journalist Alex Dyer made his name covering the bloody horrors of the European trenches. Yet even after the Great War is over, he cannot shake the guilt he feels for not serving on the front lines like his dearest childhood friend, Ted Eden. Worse still, Alex cannot put to rest the emotions that gnaw at him from the inside: his feelings for Clare, Ted's wife—a woman they both have loved more than life itself. A masterful debut novel from the acclaimed author of The Hidden Life of Otto Frank, Carol Ann Lee's Winter of the World combines fascinating historical detail and color with breathtaking invention. Recalling the fire of the battlefield and the nightmare of the trenches, it brilliantly evokes a volatile time when life was frozen in the present tense and looking forward was the only thing more painful than looking back.

Anne Frank's diary changed how the world saw the Holocaust—this book will change how you see Anne Frank. Beginning with Otto Frank's idyllic childhood, follow the family's journey from its proud German roots through life under Nazi occupation to their horrifying concentration camp experiences. Interspersed with their story are personal accounts of survivors, excerpts from the other victims' journals, and black-and-white photos. A perfect blend of historical information and emotional narratives, this book makes an excellent companion to the diary, offering an indepth look at the life of Anne Frank, and an intimate history of the young people who experienced the Holocaust.

When Jacqueline met Anne on her way home from school in the 1940s, the two girls formed an instant friendship. But with every day came an increasing sense of fear, especially as the Nazis took over Amsterdam. Despite the impending war, the friendship between Anne Frank and Jacqueline van Maarsen would never be broken, even when Anne was forced into hiding. In this beautiful memoir, Jacqueline remembers Anne, their friendship, and the chilling Holocaust experience of barely escaping deportation by the Nazis, helplessly watching friends and family disappear, and starting her life again after the war. Through Jacqueline's memories and black-and-white photos, Anne Frank will come to life and continue to be remembered. "[A] fascinating account of Anne, her family, and her friends before she went into hiding . . . This absorbing book vividly portrays life in occupied Amsterdam and throws interesting sidelights on Anne Frank's story."—Booklist

En 1942, Anne Frank a treize ans. Tandis qu'elle se cache des nazis, elle tient un journal, devenu aujourd'hui l'un des livres les plus célèbres au monde. A travers l'Europe, de nombreux autres enfants au destin brisé nous ont également laissé journaux, lettres et souvenirs. Dans ce récit saisissant, découvrez leur histoire, enrichie de témoignages passionnants sur Anne Frank et ses proches. En s'appuyant sur des documents bouleversants, Carol Ann Lee brosse un inoubliable portrait d'Anne Frank, auquel se mêlent les voix des autres enfants de la Shoah.

Qui a dénoncé Anne Frank et les siens ? Pour la première fois, Carol Ann Lee apporte un éclairage nouveau sur leur délation par un certain Tonny Ahlers, agent de la Gestapo. Témoignages exclusifs et nombreux documents d'archives à l'appui, l'auteur retrace l'itinéraire tragique des Frank et l'incroyable destin d'Otto, chef de famille exemplaire. Directeur d'entreprise ingénieux et exigeant, père attentif mais époux négligent, prisonnier à Auschwitz, gardien - abusif selon certains - de la mémoire de sa fille Anne, voici le portrait d'un homme dont les ambitions ont sans cesse été malmenées par les aléas de l'histoire. Né en 1889 dans une riche famille juive de Francfort, Otto Frank se destine à une carrière d'homme d'affaires lorsque la Première Guerre mondiale éclate. Appelé à défendre son pays, il accomplira son devoir jusqu'à l'armistice. A son retour du front, en 1919, sa mère lui confie la direction de la banque familiale. Le krach boursier mettra fin à ses projets. Son mariage avec Edith Hollànder le sauve du péril financier grâce à la dot conséquente qu'elle lui apporte. Une union de raison. La naissance de Margot, puis d'Anne, comblent Otto et Edith, mais leur bonheur sera de courte durée : la montée du nazisme les contraint à s'exiler. Ils élisent domicile à Amsterdam. Chacun s'adapte aux us et coutumes de ce nouveau pays, jusqu'au jour où Margot, de retour de l'école, annonce à son père qu'elle a été sélectionnée pour les camps de travail. Otto comprend qu'il doit mettre les siens à l'abri : désormais ils vivront cachés dans la fameuse Annexe de ses bureaux. Le 4 août 1944, l'inévitable se produit. Des agents de la Gestapo frappent à leur porte. Otto, Edith, Margot et Anne sont arrêtés et déportés à Auschwitz. Otto sera le seul à revenir vivant des camps de la mort. Anne et Margot succomberont au typhus à Bergen-Belsen, leur mère décédera à Birkenau. Carol Ann Lee signe la première biographie d'Otto Frank. Un document remarquable et bouleversant.

In this definitive new biography, Carol Ann Lee provides the answer to one of the most heartbreaking questions of modern times: Who betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis? Probing this startling act of treachery, Lee brings to light never before documented information about Otto Frank and the individual who would claim responsibility -- revealing a terrifying relationship that lasted until the day Frank died. Based upon impeccable research into rare archives and filled with excerpts from the secret journal that Frank kept from the day of his liberation until his return to the Secret Annex in 1945, this landmark biography at last brings into focus the life of a little-understood man -- whose story illuminates some of the most harrowing and memorable events of the last century.

A biography of Anne Frank, a thirteen-year-old German-Jewish girl who recorded her thoughts and experiences while in hiding from the Nazis for two years before being discovered and taken to a concentration camp.

Biografie van Otto Frank (1889-1980), vader van Anne Frank (1929-1945), met bijzondere aandacht voor het onderduiken en het verraden van het gezin Frank tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

The life story of Anne Frank, from her early happy childhood in Frankfurt, growing up in Amsterdam, her two years in hiding and the last few months of her life in the concentration camps. Narrated in six clearly written chapters, this biography for children answers the many detailed questions about Anne that readers of the Diary often have, and includes interesting anecdotes from friends who survived her. There is an Historical Note at the beginning of the book and a map of Europe, so that children will be able to understand the situation at the time, and an Introduction by Anne Frank's cousin, Buddy Elias.

Het leven van Anne Frank tegen de achtergrond van de jodenvervolging in de periode 1930-1945. Vanaf ca. 11 jaar.

Anne Frank's 'Diary of a Young Girl' is the most widely read work of non-fiction after the bible. Yet, there has never been an in-depth biography of the teenage writer who perished in the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen. Here, Carol Ann Lee vividly recreates Anne's short life. Having exclusive access to a number of unpublished documents, she has captured Anne's complex and evolving character.

Ana Frank es sin duda el personaje histórico que más ha contribuido a mantener vivo el triste recuerdo del holocausto nazi. Tras largos años de investigación la autora nos ofrece esta biografía documentada en los testimonios de los familiares supervivientes y en abundante material inédito, e ilustrada con fotografías.

Sur une toile de fond dramatique - la guerre, la chasse aux Juifs -, c'est toute l'histoire d'Anne Frank que raconte Carol Ann Lee : de sa naissance à Francfort en 1929 jusqu'à son décès en 1945, après avoir subi l'humiliation et les pires souffrances dans les camps d'extermination d'Auschwitz et de Bergen-Belsen. Partie des Journaux et des récits d'Anne Frank, et avec l'aide du seul parent proche encore en vie - qui préside le Fonds Anne Frank -, l'auteur a interrogé tous les témoins et survivants, épluché les correspondances privées, fouillé les archives en grande partie inédites, pour arracher son héroïne aux clichés et lui donner sa pleine stature de jeune fille espiègle et sauvageonne, mais aussi d'écrivain en herbe en révolte contre le monde des adultes.