Sinners all bow two authors, one murder, and the real Hester Prynne
The sinners all bow
Kate Winkler Dawson.
- New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, [2025]
- 307 pages ; Hardback 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-297) and index.
Prologue : The Advocates -- Chapter One : The Durfee Farm -- Chapter Two : Sarah Maria -- Chapter Three : Rash Violence -- Chapter Four : Body of Evidence -- Chapter Five : "If I Am Missing" -- Chapter Six : The Sinners -- Chapter Seven : The Clove Hitch -- Chapter Eight : The Totality of Tales -- Chapter Nine : The Witnesses -- Chapter Ten : The Letters -- Chapter Eleven : The Hitch -- Chapter Twelve : Wicked Creatures
"On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Cornell was found hanging in a barn, four months pregnant, after a disgraceful liaison with a charismatic Methodist minister, Reverend Ephraim Avery. Some (Avery's lawyers) claimed her death was suicide . . . but others weren't so sure. Determined to uncover the real story, intrepid Victorian writer Catharine Williams threw herself into the investigation and wrote what many claim is the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River. The case and Williams' book became a sensation--one that divided the country and inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. But the reverend was not convicted, and questions linger to this day about what really led to Sarah Cornell's death. Until now. In The Sinners All Bow, acclaimed true-crime historian Kate Winkler Dawson travels back in time to 19th century small town America, emboldened to finish the work Williams started nearly two centuries before. Using modern investigative advancements-such as "forensic knot analysis" to determine cause of death, the prosecutor's notes from 1833, and criminal profiling which was invented 55 years later with Jack the Ripper--Dawson fills in the gaps of Williams' research to find the truth. Along the way she also examines how society decides who is the "right kind" of crime victim and how America's long history of religious evangelism may have clouded the facts both in the 1830s and today. Ultimately, The Sinners All Bow brings justice to an unsettling mystery that speaks to our past as well as our present, anchored by three women who subverted the script they were given"--
9780593713617 0593713613
2024029566
Cornell, Sarah Maria, 1802-1832. Avery, Ephraim K., 1799-1869. Williams, C. R. 1790-1872. Fall River.
Murder--History--Rhode Island--19th century. Murder--History--Massachusetts--Fall River--19th century. Forensic sciences. Criminal investigation. True Crime / Murder. History / United States / 19th Century. History / Women.