Review: The Fatal Tree

The Fatal Tree by Jake Arnott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is based on real life characters of the 18th Century.

Elizabeth Lyon "Edgeware Bess" is portrayed with a fictional backstory however, she was indeed a prostitute and a thief during these times in London and was well acquainted with the Black Lion Pub, Jonathan Wild "The Thief Taker" and Jack Sheppard.

Jonathan Wild was notorious for working both sides of the law and eventually was handed over by his own men for his duplicity.

Jack Sheppard grew up in a workhouse with his mother after his fathers death before taking on an apprenticeship in his fathers trade of Carpentry.

What is unique about this book is the language, the back of the book has a useful glossary of terms for the slang used however, I found it extremely easy to work out the meanings and it never stopped or stilted the path of the story.

The story itself is based around actual events noted in the archives of the Old Bailey and begins introducing Elizabeth Lyon in rural servitude, her fall from grace and path to London's underbelly leading her to both prostitution and her initial manipulation to crime by Jonathan Wild before she meets and marries Jack.

There is thankfully no forced happy ending to this book, just the harsh reality of the times but to the very end, you feel exposed to the filth, degredation and underhandedness of that time.

The unique coloqiolisms of the writing along with Jack Arnott's writing style makes this book easy to read and the pacing drew me back time and again even if only for a few pages.

This true crime history was a great read and I gave it 4*'s

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