Jessica Gregson’s debut novel, The Angel Makers, is one of those novels that will make a reader
question his feelings about crimes committed by otherwise admirable
people. Is a murder committed with good
intentions any less a crime than a murder committed in the midst of rage or
lust? Would a good person allow other innocent lives to be taken simply because
she does not want to be exposed as an earlier murderess of bad people? Jessica Gregson will have you trying to
decide the answers.
The Angel Makers
is based upon a series of murders that occurred in Nagyrev, Hungary, over a
15-year period that began during World War I.
It is believed that at least 45 people were poisoned in the village during
those years; some say the real number is closer to 300. What is not in dispute is that the
ringleaders, and source of the arsenic used to kill all of the victims, were
the village midwife and her young assistant.
These two women, under fictional names, are the central characters of The Angel Makers.
One’s initial reaction might be to wonder how a crime of
this proportion, one involving so many people, could have remained undiscovered
for more than a decade. Gregson’s
description of the utter remoteness of life in rural Hungary during this
period, and of the type of self-contained, closed society that developed there,
makes it seem very possible – if not probable – that such killers could get
away with their crimes for a very long time.
Even a series of crimes like this one, crimes that claimed the lives of
multiple husbands, elderly parents, lovers, and sons, could remain a dark,
self-contained secret when so many women had so much to lose if their crimes
were exposed.
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| Jessica Gregson |
So, what triggered the murders? Simply put, when Italian prisoners of war
were housed near the village, the women caught a glimpse of a life much
different from the one they had been living with their husbands prior to the
beginning of World War I. With their own
husbands away fighting the war, and a war from which they might never return,
at that, it was too easy for the women to form relationships with the Italians
for whom they were paid to cook, clean, and wash. Because security at the makeshift prison was almost
nonexistent, soon enough most of the village women had taken Italian lovers
whom they preferred over their husbands.
When those husbands began to return from the front, the women had a
choice to make. Many were quick to choose
their Italian lovers and the new lifestyle they had come to enjoy.
Is the murder of a man justified if it saves his wife from
years of physical abuse or saves the life of the unborn child carried by that
woman? You decide. The bigger moral question faced by the book’s
two main characters involves what they did to hide their secret. Fearing
exposure if they refused, the pair chose to make murder possible for other
women who wanted to rid themselves of elderly parents, siblings in line for a
family inheritance, or crippled husbands and sons. Was Sari (the fictional midwife assistant) a
good woman or a bad woman? Did she
deserve to hang – or not? Read The Angel Makers before you try to
answer those questions.
Rated: 4.0
This sounds so good. Thanks for the review, I will be getting this book.
ReplyDeleteHistorically, midwives were often viewed with suspicion. Their knowledge of herbs, and the seeming randomness with which some mothers and babies lived and some died often triggered accusations. Add to the fact that many midwives did indeed know how to induce miscarriages, and of course their biggest crime: being women.
It will be very interesting to read about a real case where these concerns were valid.
Thanks for your insights into the history of midwives, Susan. I have seen reference (somewhere) to a nonfiction book on the topic and, if I run into it again, I'll post it here for you.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely one that piques my interest.
ReplyDeleteDo give it a shot, Kathleen. I feel pretty confident that you will enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteAren't all wartime killings justified as "for a good cause"? The justification for the killings done to prevent any of the women from reporting the crimes could be considered as "self-defense", as in killing people in another country because they might kill us. Anyone who thinks the Angel Makers were criminals should rethink our involvement in the Middle East wars.
ReplyDeleteThat's a legitimate point, Jane, but the "rules" do seem to change when the war ends...although war crimes always do happen, they tend to get pushed under the rug more times than not.
ReplyDeleteThat's a legitimate point, Jane, but the "rules" do seem to change when the war ends...although war crimes always do happen, they tend to get pushed under the rug more times than not.
ReplyDelete