Robert Muscutt 

A Life for A Life

The Real Story of Mary Ball

A Novel 
Hardcover, 424 Seiten, Price 28,80 € | 19 £ . 
ISBN 3-933570-14-X

Ordering Info

We are delighted to present the enthralling first edition of the novel dramatising the life of the real person Mary who was sentenced in a sensational trial in Coventry and hanged in 1849, the last public execution of a woman in Warwickshire.

In an historically authentic context, the novel relates the tempestuous events that led to the fatal condemnation of Mary Ball.

The novel is written by the offender’s great, great grandson who, after extensive research, has embedded the story into a setting richly enhanced by real incidents. With masterfully crafted style, the author succeeds in unobtrusively conveying to the reader a strong sense of the world at the time of the early industrial revolution in an absorbing and totally convincing way. In addition the readers gains revealing insights into the still relevant political background. 

After arduous but exciting teenage years in the mid-nineteenth century English Midlands, Mary Ball is on the verge of drifting into a life of drudgery and submission in a loveless, violent marriage. Inspired by both events around her and by insights from within herself, she resolves to discard the role she seems predestined for and to determine her own life.

Based on the true story of the author’s great, great grandmother who was publicly hanged for murder in Coventry in 1849, the novel weaves fact and fiction into a fascinating tale of a woman’s real struggle for a better life.

With a detailed sense of place, Mary’s personal story is integrated into the momentous political and social landscape of her times; the railways, Chartism and industrial revolution. With the choice between submission or defiance at its centre, the novel confronts the reader with questions as relevant and compelling today as they were when Mary Ball had to make her fatal decision.

For Retailers

Poster and Postcards are available for bookstores and wholesalers. On special demand we can offer free and individualized postcards for those customers. If interested please contact e-contact@eugep.com.