Mmm, it’s starting to look like I have an obsession with poisoners! (I really don’t!)
I picked this up in Audible’s 2 for 1 sale after I had finished reading about the 20th century ‘teacup poisoner’, Graham Young, in Carol Ann Lee’s ‘A Passion for Poison’ (recommended – my review is here).
This book is divided into three main sections and these can be listened to quite separately – I liked the fairly short chapters and descriptive chapter titles as this helped me navigate the audiobook as I shuttled it between car, home, headphones and phone.
It covers a quite huge span of history, but mainly the bit between there being some historical records or exhumable bodies right up to poison becoming more easily detectable and so less appealing as a murder weapon. The majority of the book, therefore, is about between the years 1200 to 1800 (roughly).
The first section looks at the omnipresence of poison in court life – not only poison deliberately placed in food or other items in order to cause harm, but also in cosmetics, medicine and the environment. This bit was fascinating – there are some genuinely eye-opening and stomach-churning facts in here and this isn’t for the squeamish. The amount of inadvertant poisoning was incredible. I don’t know anyone trusted court physicians, even those with the best intentions!
The second section is all about figures from history that were rumoured to be poisoned. This bit is also really interesting as both the contemporary diagnosis is explored as well as any modern interpretations – in quite a few cases, bodies have been exhumed and bones/hair tested for poison. This mainly taught me that there were a lot less poisoning cases than rumoured – and tonnes of gastric ulcers, tuberculosis and some other horrific diseases. However, there was also a lot of murder and intrigue and some engaging stories and figures. In particular, I learnt that court artist Caravaggio was an interesting chap (or a terrifyingly violent and vice-ridden one!) and being a royal mistress was a dangerous occupation.
The third section brings the concept of poisoning more up to date, with a focus on scientific advances in the Victorian age and beyond, plus some terrifying stories about Russian development of nerve agents more recently.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted, but it is well worth a listen if you want a lively and quite gossipy overview of poison in and around the royal courts of Europe – Herman doesn’t focus just on the UK royal family (and often these are the ones that are unresolved as our royals aren’t keen on digging up their ancestors and having DNA tests, it seems…)
Overall, this is a well-researched book and one that is written in an engaging and (at times) humorous tone. Joan Walker, the audiobook narrator, is absolutely brilliant at making this very easy and enjoyable to listen to as she sounds genuinely enthusiastic about the topic – not always a given with audiobooks! It’s worth noting that the narrator sounds English but the book is American (there were a few Americanisms which surprised me from a British-sounding narrator).
I’d urge anyone with a slightly morbid fascination with poison, poisoners, crime novels or medical history to give this one a go!
If you’d like a copy of this audiobook, please use my affilate link below. Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
Header photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash – it’s called ‘Sigismonda Drinking The Poison’ by Joseph Edward Southall
Sounds fascinating, thanks for sharing your thoughts
You’re welcome – this is one interesting audiobook!
Short chapters are a MUST for me these days so I love the sound of this book already. But beyond that it sounds like a book I would highly enjoy as well.