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The Poison Principle
 
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The Poison Principle (Hardcover)

by Gail Bell (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Macmillan; First paperback edition edition (19 Jul 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0333989155
  • ISBN-13: 978-0333989159
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 766,867 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

The Times, 24 July 02

An intelligent, reflective, mythopoeic study of poisons and poisoners, miraculously well-written, compellingly readable in terms of style and narrative.


Product Description

When Dr William Macbeth poisoned two of his sons in 1927, his wife and sister hid the murders in the intensely private realm of family secrets. Like the famous poisoner Dr Crippen, Macbeth behaved as if he were immune to consequences; unlike Crippen, he avoided detection and punishment. Or did he? Secrets can be as corrosive as poison and, as time passed, the story of Dr William Macbeth, well-dressed poisoner, haunted and divided his descendants. Macbeth's granddaughter Gail Bell, who grew up with the story, spent ten years reading the literature of poisoning in order to understand Macbeth's life. A chemist herself, she listened for echoes in the great cases of the 19th and 20th centuries, in myths, fiction and poison lore. This intricate story, with a moving twist at the end, is a book about family guilt and secrets, and also an exploration of the nature of death itself - as Bell turns to her grandfather's poisonous predecessors, from Cleopatra, Madame Bovary and Napoleon, as well as looking at Harold Shipman.
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Complex, odd but worth reading, 15 Feb 2005
By Kali "bengaligirl" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Poison Principle (Paperback)
An odd little book that I wasn't quite sure I liked after reading the first chapter, however I persevered and I am glad that I did.

Gail Bell the author, a trained Chemist by trade is the Granddaughter of a poisoner, a man who murdered his two eldest sons when they were babies and supposedly got away with it.

Or that is what she is told by one of her maternal Aunts and it is this family story that leads Gail into the strange, frightening world of poisons, the people who have used poison for murder, accidental poisoning and how poisons can affect the human body both before and after death.

Ms Bell is surprisingly methodical and cold about the use of poison through history, looking at the likes of Cleopatra, and Crippen and analysing their motives for dabbling in the murderous art but as she digs deeper into her own family background she finds that her Grandfather the supposed child poisoner is more complex and elusive than she could ever have imagined and that truth is often really stranger than fiction.

This book is quite chaotic as one earlier reviewer said, they are right, Ms Bell is telling two stories, one about her Grandfather, the other about poison itself as weapon for murder but for me the two juxtaposed together quite nicely, and the chaos adds to the strange charm of this book.

I liked it but I should warn you it's isn't for the really squeamish and also it isn't for those that want an easy read, because of the "chaotic" writing you need to read it very carefully but for me it was quite riveting and I read it in one sitting and really enjoyed it.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and fascinating read, 28 Jul 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: The Poison Principle (Paperback)
A marvellous book. A heady mix of family memoir, literary search and poison handbook which is beautifully and powerfully written. It is also a very clever and moving real-life detective story, and I can thoroughly recommend it. A very poignant and personal ending gives it life and punch.

Thank goodness there are publishers around who are still happy to publish cross-genres masterpieces like this one!

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, warm & intelligent, 11 Nov 2002
By Katherine Jeffery (Coventry U.K.) - See all my reviews
This book really surprised me. First of all, it's beautifully written which is something you don't always get from writers who were trained in the sciences. Bell has a lot of information to get across and that's where the strength of the work comes through; you keep reading for the warmth of the writing and her intelligence and along the way you learn all sorts of intriguing things about poison and poisoners and human nature in general.
I didn't want it to end. I hope she's writing something new!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Totally and utterly BORING!
This has to be the most boring book I have ever attempted to read. I thought I'd give it a chance when I hadn't got into the first 50 pages or so. Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2006 by S. Suthers

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking, poisoned by the pleasure of the read.
I haven't read anything as interesting and compelling as The Poison Principle in a long time.
From the first page I was involved with the story of Gail Bell's encounter with an... Read more
Published on 2 Nov 2002 by ukdick

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