Other Women: Emma Flint

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It was far too simple for my taste. I didn't get bored exactly - it is a murder mystery after all - and it reads very fast (also because of many unnecessary repetitions), but the story and the themes are conventional and without surprises.

The BBC Radio 2 Book Club announced on 24 January that its new home is on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. This is an extremely well written fictionalised account of a notorious murder trial. Readers who enjoy courtroom scenes will particularly appreciate it. However, most memorable is Flint’s exploration of a hideous imbalance of power between men and women. Kate Ryan is a mother and a wife and is used to lying for her husband. Looking in from the outside, they seem like a perfectly happy family, but looks can be deceptive. A fast paced plot, told in a hugely readable and compelling writing style, I raced through this one. Six years after the end of the Great War, the country is still in mourning. Thousands of husbands, fathers, sons and sweethearts were lost forever, and the sea of women they left behind must carry on without them.When I first read about the case around twenty years ago, I wondered why most accounts focused more on the killer than on his victims. And I wondered about the terror his victims must have felt when they realised what lay behind his charming appearance. The man I fictionalise as Tom Ryan got newspaper headlines, hours of courtroom time, people prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt – and one hundred years later, it’s still too often the male perpetrators of abuse that news report focus on; it’s their stories that we read.

Heartbreaking. I wanted it to go on and on, even as I raced to the end. Excellent, absorbing and totally gripping. -- Melanie Golding, author of The Replacements Recommended by a friend, what a great book it was, the story is told by Bea and Kate. The timeline starts in 1923 going through to 1924 Kate is married to Tom and he is also the lover of Bea. Bea had a rich and happy life. She had people who cared for her, people who would miss her when she waas dead. Other Women was born from a fury that the life she created for herself could be so entirely destroyed, and from a determination that she would not be forgotten. As we read more, it soon becomes clear what has happened, but there are two different stories coming out as we see the trial unfold. We learn about societal expectations of the time as we follow Bea’s story – as an unmarried, older woman she feels judged at every turn, and I really felt for her. Similarly, I had a lot of empathy with Kate and was glad the book ended the way it did (when I was reading the novel, I didn’t at that point realise this was based on a true story. When I found this out, it only added more to my interest!)In a lonely cottage on a deserted stretch of shore, a moment of tragedy between lovers becomes a horrific murder. And two women who should never have met are connected for ever. Una vita come tante, in fondo, quella di Beatrice Cade, fatta di lavoro, solitudine e qualche acquisto nei negozi di una Londra che tenta di ricominciare dopo la prima guerra mondiale. I liked the way the book unfolded from the contrasting two POVs of the murdered lover and the murderer's wife. I loved this book, I couldn’t put it down. I found it extremely engaging and I really liked the fact that it was inspired by a true crime story. I found it very interesting how the author describes what life was like for women in the early 1920s. I enjoyed the narrative and the way the story was told by the two different women; the wife’s narrative especially gripped me and I thought it was very clever the way the author told the story from her point of view in the second half of the book. The writing flowed perfectly between the two characters giving a sense of intrigue with each chapter. The connection between the two women was very heart felt and I loved the unlikely heroine aspect of the plot.” About the author I really enjoyed this book. Based on a real-life murder that took place just after WWI, 'Other Women' tells the story of two women's lives and the fatal love triangle that consumed them. This is a meticuously well written historical crime thriller, that focuses on characterisation and gives a voice to ordinary and forgotten women from history.

Almost one in three women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime1. It is estimated that three women commit suicide each week in the UK alone as a result of domestic violence2. And 40 per cent of homeless women in the UK state that domestic violence is a contributing factor to their homelessness2. All that changes with the arrival at the office one day of Tom Ryan. He is a traveling salesman for Morley’s, taken on at the suggestion of his wife, who works in another branch of the company, and he is both handsome and personable. Bea begins to look forward to Ryan’s occasional appointments with Mr Morley. Gradually, the pair become friends… and then something more than friends. Other Women’ by Emma Flint is inspired by the true story of the murder of Emily Kaye in 1924. The narrative viewpoint moves between Bea, Tom Ryan’s lover, and the latter’s wife, Kate.

What a beautifully written, riveting historical novel Other Women is – based on a true case, which makes it all the more interesting! On the south coast of England, an anguished moment between lovers becomes a horrific murder. And two women who should never have met are connected forever.