Saturday, October 23, 2021

Violette Nozière - Sarah Maza

Time for another library confession! Way back in 2019, I stumbled on this book in the library and the subtitle: "A Story of Murder in 1930s Paris" really sold me (I like 30s music/movies/fashion, I love Paris, and I enjoy true crime stories). I checked it out, started to read it and - I don't know what happened, but I somehow ran out of time to finish and had to return the book (I suspect some work travel got in the way). All this time has passed and I have thought about this book from time to time ever since, feeling guilty for not finishing it, and wanting to know how the story ended of course, so I finally checked it out again 2+ years later. 

This is a meticulously researched nonfiction book about a young woman who poisoned her parents. The author, who is evidently a history professor, sets the scene with a lot of detail about life in Paris in the 30s, particularly for working class/bourgeois people, as well as getting into detail about how this sensational case impacted popular culture. I appreciated the overall tone of the book being more academic, rather than sensational or "trashy" like some true crime writing can get. I won't go into detail, but the case is fascinating for many reasons and there are still unanswered questions the world will never know the truth of. Recommended. 

No comments:

Post a Comment