A Brutal Chill in August
A Novel of Polly Nichols, The First Victim of Jack the Ripper
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Narrated by:
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Alicia Rose
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By:
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Alan M. Clark
About this listen
We all know about Jack the Ripper, the serial murderer who terrorized Whitechapel and confounded police in 1888, but how much do we really know about his victims?
Pursued by one demon into the clutches of another, the ordinary life of Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols is made extraordinary by horrible, inhuman circumstance. Jack the Ripper's first victim comes to life in this sensitive and intimate fictionalized portrait, from humble beginnings, to building a family with an abusive husband, her escape into poverty and the workhouse, alcoholism, and finally abandoned on the streets of London where the Whitechapel Murderer found her.
With A Brutal Chill in August, Alan M. Clark gives listeners an uncompromising and terrifying look at the nearly forgotten human story behind one of the most sensational crimes in history. This is horror that happened.
©2016 Alan M. Clark (P)2016 Alan M. ClarkListeners also enjoyed...
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The Path of Thorns
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- Narrated by: Louise Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Asher Todd comes to live with the mysterious Morwood family as a governess to their children. Asher knows little about being a governess but she is skilled in botany and herbcraft, and perhaps more than that. And she has secrets of her own, dark and terrible—and Morwood is a house that eats secrets. With a monstrous revenge in mind, Asher plans to make it choke. However, she becomes fond of her charges, of the people of the Tarn, and she begins to wonder if she will be able to execute her plan—and who will suffer most if she does.
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Great unique story
- By Holly Bailey on 10-18-24
By: A.G. Slatter
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A Soupcon of Poison
- By: Jennifer Ashley
- Narrated by: Anne-Marie Piazza
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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London, 1880. Kat Holloway, highly sought-after young cook to the wealthy of London, finds herself embroiled in murder when she’s accused of poisoning her employer, the loathsome Sir Lionel Leigh-Bradbury. Her only help as she works to clear her name comes from the mysterious Daniel McAdam, a handsome man-of-all-work who seems to know everyone and always happens to be in the right place at the right time.
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Excellent!
- By Mystery Reader on 05-09-20
By: Jennifer Ashley
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The Chocolate Maker's Wife
- By: Karen Brooks
- Narrated by: Willow Nash
- Length: 20 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Born into poverty, brutalised and ignored by her family, it is only when she is married off to a nobleman that her life undergoes a transformation, as her husband recognises in Rosamund a magic she does not know she possesses but which affects almost all who encounter her. Presiding over a luxurious chocolate house where men go to be seen, exchange news and indulge in the sweet and heady drink to which they have become addicted, Rosamund feels blessed. But disaster strikes, and Rosamund stands on the brink of losing all she has worked so hard to achieve.
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Loved the history....
- By Kim Tyler on 01-20-20
By: Karen Brooks
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Our Last Goodbye
- By: Shirley Dickson
- Narrated by: Joan Walker
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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A heart-wrenching, poignant and totally unforgettable tale of a young woman who must finally face up to the secret she has hidden for a lifetime. 1943, England: On a foggy night during the blackout, 25-year-old May Robinson watches in horror as her mother, Ivy, is tragically killed. Heartbroken, May is not sure she has the strength to harbour the secret she has kept for so many years - a secret that her mother devoted her life to hiding and that would tear their broken family even further apart.
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Great listen
- By MichelleO on 07-03-23
By: Shirley Dickson
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The Third Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Talia Carner
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The turn of the 20th century finds 14-year-old Batya in the Russian countryside, fleeing with her family endless pogroms. Desperate, her father leaps at the opportunity to marry Batya to a worldly, wealthy stranger who can guarantee his daughter an easy life and passage to America. Feeling like a princess in a fairytale, Batya leaves her old life behind as she is whisked away to a new world. But soon, she discovers that she’s entered a waking nightmare. Her new “husband” does indeed bring her to America.
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brilliant novel based on shocking truth
- By Rochelle Jewel Shapiro on 07-05-20
By: Talia Carner
What listeners say about A Brutal Chill in August
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Madelon Wilson
- 08-05-17
The Demon Within; the Danger Without
In his introduction to A BRUTAL CHILL IN AUGUST, Alan Clark adds some historical context that I never knew before, despite being an avid follower of the Whitechapel killer. That fatal August was pretty chilly due to the eruption of Krakatoa that spread fine ash over the northern hemisphere. As I read this, I mentally bemoaned the inadequacy of history texts in presenting events in a broad enough context. My motto is that any day that I learn something new is a good day… so today is one of those days.
Although this is part of the Jack the Ripper Victim Series, each book is a standalone novel not about Jack but about one of his victims of which the canon tells us there were five. A BRUTAL CHILL IN AUGUST is the story of Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, Jack's first victim. In creating a biography from what is known of the victims, Alan Clark has obviously done his homework with regard to the history of Victorian London. He explores the ways of superstition and religion in that time period in such a way that his background as an artist and writer in the horror genre add just the right flavor to the tale, No doubt, Jack the Ripper is the narrative of an unsolved murder spree, but Jack himself has become a time-honored trope in horror.
Let's forget about Jack for the moment because he is truly peripheral to the point here. Polly Nichols comes alive in a world beset by the ills of adherence to class structure. If you are poor, you live and work with others of your class. This class structure led to such travesties as the workhouses which were little more than forced labor prisons for those in need.
This series has led to some personal experimentation with listening to audio books without having read the text. The narrator, Alicia Rose, does a five-star job of reading. Her British accent enhances the story by putting you there, in London. She speaks clearly and with the right emphasis to bring Polly Nichols to life. I could be easily persuaded to listen to anything she might perform.
The story ends as you would expect, no change in history here. However, if you read this book on Kindle, you will miss out on the chilling musical rendition the Audible edition provides.
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