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The Unseeing
The Unseeing
The Unseeing
Audiobook11 hours

The Unseeing

Written by Anna Mazzola

Narrated by Liz Pearce

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

About this audiobook

It is 1837 and the city streets teem with life, atmosphere and the stench of London. Sarah Gale, a seamstress and mother, has been sentenced to hang for her role in the murder of Hannah Brown on the eve of her wedding. Edmund Fleetwood, an idealistic lawyer, is appointed to investigate Sarah's petition for mercy and consider whether justice has been done. Struggling with his own demons, he is determined to seek out the truth, yet Sarah refuses to help him. Edmund knows she's hiding something, but needs to discover just why she's maintaining her silence. For how can it be that someone with a child would go willingly to their own death? THE UNSEEING is a vividly written novel of human frailty, fear and manipulation, and of the terrible consequences of jealousy and misunderstanding.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 7, 2017
ISBN9781501938443
Author

Anna Mazzola

Anna Mazzola’s short fiction has won or placed in several competitions. She is a criminal justice lawyer who lives in the UK. This is her first novel.

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Reviews for The Unseeing

Rating: 3.617647147058823 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

34 ratings4 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Overwrought rendering of a Victorian murder with added characters as a way to examine the various ways in which women were regarded as guilty, regardless of what they had done or what was done to them. Contemporary echoes are hard to ignore.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ripped from the headlines of 1837! Based on the infamous Edgware Road Murder and the trial that followed in London, THE UNSEEING blends facts and fiction to bring to life this disturbing historical mystery.Who killed Hannah Brown and why? Sarah Gale, poor seamstress and single mother of a small boy, sits in dismal Newgate Prison, waiting to hang for her part in the grizzly murder. But was Sarah unfairly convicted? Lawyer Edmund Fleetwood is sent to investigate. Edmund suspects she is not telling the whole truth about Hannah’s murder, which makes his job of saving her from the gallows very difficult.This book was well researched and also gave readers an imaginative spin on the Edgware Road Murder. The author did a fantastic job conveying what life was like around the eve of the Victorian Era. It was difficult, to say the least, especially for a poor woman like Sarah. The pacing was slow in spots, and I was kind of annoyed that Sarah kept her secret from Edmund for so long. Clearly, he could be trusted, and Sarah had a child to consider too. I liked how the author had the crime and punishment play out in the end. It was fitting with the the actual events that took place.Audiobook • 11 hrs, 26 mins • Liz Pearce, NarratorI enjoyed Liz Pearce’s narration very much! There were several different characters from different classes, and her many accents were spot on and entertaining. I especially liked her voice for the awful prison guard Miss Sowerton. Her character was just as horrible as Newgate Prison itself!Disclosure: I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    1837, during the course of this book, the Victorian age will be ushered in, and a young woman and mother would be sentenced to hang. When body parts of a murders woman are found in various areas, a Christmas Eve murder would be uncovered. The body traced back to James Greenacre, his live in mistress, Sarah deemed culpable and sentenced to Newgate to await her execution date. But was she guilty. She refuses to say much of anything, claiming not to know what happened. Edmund, a young barrister is charged with uncovering her story, a charge which will uncover many secrets and have a profound effect on his own life.Darkly atmospheric, richly described, this story based on a real life case, quickly drew me in and kept me turning the pages wanting to uncover the heart of this mystery. Using actual newspaper headlines from the time, court transcripts, the author add a few characters of her own invention to enrich and define this addictive story. The descriptions of the treatment and conditions of Bedlam were appalling. Justice back then was not exactly fitting to the crime, much, much, harsher than today. Our legal system has come a long way, thank goodness. Reminds me a little of the atmosphere in Burial rites, another book about a convicted murderess. An debut novel by a very capable author. ARC from Netgalley.Release date, February 7th by Sourcebooks Landmark.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sarah Gale is being held for aiding and abetting to murder in 1837 of Hannah Brown. She says she is innocent, however, she didn't speak during the trial. Her companion who she was living with at the time said she knew nothing about the murder of Hannah Brown and was innocent. He was found guilty and sentenced to hang.Edmund Fleetwood is called upon to investigate further and determine whether or not Ms. Gale did know about the murder and should she be hung or not.Fleetwood investigates. Interviewing Ms. Gale and trying to get answers out of her is like pulling teeth. It takes her weeks to finally tell him what he needs to know. This comes out on the eve of his deadline. He finalizes his answers and sends them in. Meanwhile, Ms. Gale is not getting quite the proper treatment she should in jail. The main guard knows she is guilty and is caught whipping her and trying to get the truth out of her. She is also starving Ms. Gale and doing other inhumane things to her.Then there are the twists and turns that come out after the final answer is handed down determining Ms. Gale's future.I found this book extremely entertaining with a jaw dropping ending that definitely came out of left field. A read that I will remember for a long time.Huge thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.