Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis
by Alexis Coe
Published by Zest Books
Distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
244 Paged & Ages 16+
In 1892, America was obsessed with a teenage murderess, but it wasn’t her crime that shocked the nation – it was her motivation. Nineteen-year-old Alice Mitchell planned to pass as a man and marry seventeen-year-old Freda Ward, but when their love letters were discovered, they were forbidden to ever speak again. Desperate and isolated, Alice pilfered her father’s razor, and on a cold winter’s day, she slashed her ex-fiancée’s throat. Now more than 120 years later, their tragic but true story is being told. Alice + Freda Forever, by historian Alexis Coe and with illustrations by Sally Klann, is embellished with letters, maps, historical documents, and more.
PURCHASE LINKS
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alice-freda-forever-alexis-coe/1118884413?ean=9781936976607
IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781936976607
The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Alice-Freda-Forever-Alexis-Coe/9781936976607
Zest Books: http://zestbooks.net/alice-and-freda-forever/
ADVANCE CRITICAL PRAISE FOR ALICE + FREDA FOREVER
“This is a captivating account, and readers will quickly become absorbed in the suspense surrounding Freda’s murder. Additionally, the book provides a foundation for discussion of sociocultural themes, such as how LGBT relationships have historically been viewed by society, gender and femininity, and even journalism.” –★ School Library Journal [Starred Review]
"The murder was a national sensation at the time, but is little known today. Alexis Coe....retells it here with the color and liveliness of a novel." - The New Yorker
I would like to thank the author for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Doing so does not sway my review in any way.
Before I started reading this, I had in my mind the movie Lost and Delirious, about two girls at a boarding school and in love and one of the girls pretty much has a break down and the movie Heavenly Creatures, where two girls have an intense but destructive relationship. In some ways, these movies are a good accompaniment to this book. This book centers on a, at the time, perverse relationship between two girls and the murder of one by the other.
This book wasn't an easy read. The wording is of a more refined manner and there are instances were the reader has to read the cursive writing of the character. Unfortunately, much is lost in this because the font is too small for writing in this manner. I found myself skimming, knowing that I was probably missing a good deal, but also knowing there was no way I was going to go cross-eyed while trying to read everything.
The story is that of two girls, back in the late 1800s, who had quite the unusual relationship at the time. As the author points out in the Introduction, "few people had heard of same-sex love, and even fewer believed it was anything less than perverse. In another section the author points out that it would be another 120 years before same-sex marriage would even be legal in the state of Tennessee. So from that alone, you can get a gist of some of the book.
The other part of the book is about how the relationship is seen by others, how the murder trial is handled and the portrayal of the key witnesses and professional opinions. Personally, I think that Alice was truly in love with Freda, but in a stalker, abuser, scary way that only would lead up to one outcome if not deterred. How do I feel about Freda? I think she was a bisexual player who eventually figured out how out of hand things had gotten, but also took for granted the total scope of Alice's feelings. To me, this is not an outright love story gone wrong, this is a story about mental health issues in an era that just didn't know how to handle that, along with same-sex relationships. Am I saying there is a problem with same-sex relationships? Absolutely not, love is love. But I don't feel that what was going on between these two women was that.
The author set her facts in motion very well. She was able to create an interesting perspective into this story. She really dissected Alice, her family and her way of life. There were times that it felt like the story was going in circles though before coming reaching an outcome. The drawings were good, but didn't pull me into the story in the way they should have.
In the end, I feel sorry for both women. One who needed mental health intervention and one who thought she had finally broke off from the web she had weaved but ended up dead instead. Who would I recommend this to? Most likely anyone who is interested in historical murder stories.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Alexis Coe is a columnist at The Awl and The Toast. She has contributed to The Atlantic, Slate, The Millions, The Hairpin, LA Weekly, The Bay Citizen, Mission at Tenth, The Paris Review Daily, Los Angeles Review of Books and other publications. Before moving to San Francisco, she was a research curator at the New York Public Library, where she co-curated the most popular exhibition in the library's 101 years, and a project-based oral historian at the Brooklyn Historical Society.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alexis_Coe
Website: http://www.alexiscoe.com/
ABOUT ZEST BOOKS: Zest Books is an award-winning publisher of smart and edgy nonfiction books and memoirs for young and new adults. Distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, you can learn more about Zest Books at http://www.zestbooks.net
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