The Real Ruth Ellis Story

A Fine Day for a Hanging

The true story of the last woman to be executed in Britain

A forensically researched book [that] casts a haunting new light on the last woman to be hanged in Britain

Laurence Marks, playwright and screenwriter

Wonderful . . . it will become the standard reference on Ruth Ellis

A brilliantly researched epilogue of the doomed relationships that produced two children and one divorce and Ellis's catastrophic final days . . . All the compelling detail is here in Lee's overwhelming story, which puts Ellis's life into perspective

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES, A CRUEL LOVE, STARRING LUCY BOYNTON - COMING SOON TO ITV. 
 
Ruth Ellis was hanged for the murder of her lover, despite huge public outcry, and became the last woman to be executed in Britain. 
 
Against the backdrop of the glamorous 1950s club scene, this is the real Ruth Ellis story: a tragic true tale of murder, class, love and betrayal. 
 
"A forensically researched book that casts a haunting new light on the last woman to be hanged in Britain" Daily Mail 
 
In 1955, former nightclub manageress Ruth Ellis shot dead her lover, David Blakely. Following a trial that lasted less than two days, she was found guilty and sentenced to death. She became the last woman to be hanged in Britain, and her execution is the most notorious of hangman Albert Pierrepoint's 'duties'. 
 
Despite Ruth's infamy, the story of her life has never been fully told. Often wilfully misinterpreted, the reality behind the headlines was buried by an avalanche of hearsay. But now, through new interviews and comprehensive research into previously unpublished sources, Carol Ann Lee examines the facts without agenda or sensation. 
 
A portrait of the era and an evocation of 1950s club life in all its seedy glamour, A Fine Day for a Hanging sets Ruth's gripping story firmly in its historical context in order to tell the truth about both her timeless crime and a punishment that was very much of its time.

The Man Who Bore Witness Against the Moors Murderers

Evil Relations (formerly published as Witness)

The chief prosecution witness in the Moors Murders trial gives his account of the case after more than four decades of silence

If you thought nothing more could possibly be written about the harrowing Moors Murders, you were wrong.  David Smith was there and his story is both chilling and sad

David Smith lived in rural Ireland with his wife prior to his death in May 2012. He is survived by four children and several grandchildren. 
 
Carol Ann Lee is an acclaimed biographer and has written extensively on the Holocaust. Her most recent publication, One of Your Own, focused on the life and death of Myra Hindley.

The chief prosecution witness in the Moors Murders trial gives his account of the case after more than four decades of silence 
 
Despite standing as chief prosecution witness in the Moors Murders trial, David Smith was vilified by the public due to the accusations thrown at him by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady about his involvement in their crimes. Hindley's later confession that she and Brady had lied in an attempt to reduce their sentences did little to diminish the slurs against his name. 
 
 For over four decades, Smith was asked by writers and film-makers to tell his story. Apart from a handful of brief interviews, he always refused. Carol Ann Lee met Smith during her research for One of Your Own, her critically acclaimed biography of Hindley, following which he finally agreed to reveal all. 
 
 In Evil Relations (previously published as Witness), interviews, archival research and, most significantly, David Smith's own vivid memoir are fused to create an unforgettable, often harrowing account of his life before, during and after the Moors Murders. 
 
David Smith lived in rural Ireland with his wife prior to his death in May 2012. He is survived by four children and several grandchildren. 
 
Carol Ann Lee is an acclaimed biographer and has written extensively on the Holocaust. Her most recent publication, One of Your Own, focused on the life and death of Myra Hindley.

The Story of David Smith, Chief Prosecution Witness in the Moors Murders Case

Witness (later issued as Evil Relations)

The chief prosecution witness in the Moors Murders trial gives his account of the case after 45 years of silence

David Smith lived in rural Ireland with his wife prior to his death in May 2012. He is survived by four children and several grandchildren. 
 
Carol Ann Lee is an acclaimed biographer and has written extensively on the Holocaust. Her most recent publication, One of Your Own, focused on the life and death of Myra Hindley.

Despite standing as chief prosecution witness in the Moors Murders trial, David Smith was vilified by the public due to the accusations thrown at him by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady about his involvement in their crimes. Hindley's later confession that she and Brady had lied in an attempt to reduce their sentences did little to diminish the slurs against his name. 
 
 For almost 45 years, Smith was asked by writers and film-makers to tell his story. Apart from a handful of brief interviews, he always refused. Carol Ann Lee met Smith during her research for One of Your Own, her critically acclaimed biography of Hindley, following which he finally agreed to reveal all. 
 
 In Witness, interviews, archival research and, most significantly, David Smith's own vivid memoir are fused to create an unforgettable, often harrowing account of his life before, during and after the Moors Murders.

The Life and Death of Myra Hindley

One of Your Own

The first-ever in-depth study of Myra Hindley

A compelling read . . . a measured, humane effort to get beyond the hysteria and the horror

Scrupulously researched and clear-sighted . . . probably the most accurate account we have so far of how a 'perfect storm' of circumstances - psychological, moral and cultural - turned a damaged but sane young woman into the most notorious female killer of the twentieth century

Scrupulously  unsensational . . . as good a biography of Hindley as we're likely to  get

[A] fine book and may, indeed, be the definitive, straightforward take on a tragic, repugnant episode in the life of our post-war Britain

The most detailed, authoritative biography of Myra Hindley to date . . . offering a wealth of new detail

[An] intelligent and impressively fair-minded biography

This is a fine book and may, indeed, be the definitive, straightforward take on a tragic, repugnant episode in the life of our post-war Britain

One of Your Own succeeds powerfully . . . a searing portrait of a manipulative and calculating woman

Carol Ann Lee is an acclaimed biographer and has written extensively on the Holocaust. She is co-author of the forthcoming Witness: The Autobiography of David Smith, Chief Prosecution Witness in the Moors Murders Case.

'Infamous, I have become disowned, but I am one of your own' - Myra Hindley, from her unpublished autobiography 
 
On 15 November 2002, Myra Hindley, Britain’s most notorious murderess, died in prison, one of the rare women whose crimes were deemed so indefensible that ‘life’ really did mean ‘life’. 
 
But who was the woman behind the headlines? How could a seemingly normal girl grow up to commit such terrible acts? Her defenders claim she fell under Ian Brady’s spell, but is this the truth? Was her insistence that she had changed, that she felt deep remorse and had reverted to the Catholicism of her childhood genuine or a calculating bid to win parole? 
 
One of Your Own explores these questions and many others, drawing on a wide range of resources, including Hindley’s own unseen writings, hundreds of recently released prison files, fresh interviews and extensive new research. Compellingly well written, this is the first in-depth study of Hindley and the challenging, definitive biography of Britain’s ‘most-hated woman’.

Anne Frank and Children of the Holocaust

Carol Ann Lee's interest in Anne Frank began when she was six years old, after reading a book about the young diarist. Her first book, Roses From The Earth: The Biography of Anne Frank was published in 1999 and has been translated into fifteen languages. Her other books include The Hidden Life of Otto Frank (a biography of Anne's father), and two books for 
children: Anne Frank's Story and A Friend Called Anne. For six years, Carol Ann Lee lived in Amsterdam, but she has recently moved back to the UK and now lives in York, with her son River.

The life story of Anne Frank set chronologically against the significant events of the Holocaust, e.g. Kristallnacht, the Kindertransports and D-Day. Spanning Anne's short life from 1929 to 1945, and the early rise of Hitler to the liberation of the concentration camps, this highly moving account examines both the fate of the Frank family and the wider picture of the Holocaust. Photographs illustrate this engaging yet ultimately harrowing biography, together with short extracts from autobiographies, diaries and letters of other young people who had personal experience of the Holocaust, providing a contrast to Anne's life in hiding.

The Hidden Life of Otto Frank

Carol Ann Lee was born in Yorkshire in 1969. She lives in Amsterdam. She is the world authority on the Frank family and is the author of ROSES FROM THE EARTH: THE BIOGRAPHY OF ANNE FRANK.

Otto Frank was the father of the most famous girl of the 20th Century. It was he who found her diaries after her death and his determination to see them published around the world. This is the first time his story has been told. 
 
Born into a prosperous Jewish family in Berlin, his life was a portrait in miniature of the century: decorated after the Battle of the Somme, forced to flee Germany in the 1930s, betrayed and imprisoned by the Nazis in the Holocaust and finally gaining recognition bybearing witness to the century's horrors though the writings of his young daughter. 
 
Carol Ann Lee has written a powerful biography of an extraordinary man's life caught up in history.

Carol Ann Lee

Soon to be an ITV drama starring Lucy Boynton, A Cruel Love is the definitive story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Britain. Previously published as A Fine Day for a Hanging. 
 
'A forensically researched book that casts a haunting new light on the last woman to be hanged in Britain.' —DAILY MAIL 
 
In 1955, former nightclub manageress Ruth Ellis shot her lover, David Blakely, dead. A two-day trial followed, but despite huge public outcry, she was found guilty and sentenced to death. At 28, Ruth became the last woman executed in Britain, her hanging one of the most notorious under prolific hangman Albert Pierrepoint. 
 
Carol Ann Lee examines the facts behind the headlines surrounding this infamous case, which many believe led to the dismantling of the death penalty a decade later. Drawing on interviews and in-depth research into the full range of sources, she reveals the woman behind the crime. 
 
Previously published as A Fine Day for a Hanging, this is the acclaimed biography that inspired the ITV drama, A Cruel Love – a portrait of 1950s club life in all its seedy glamour, and a tragic true tale of murder, class, love and betrayal. 
 
'Wonderful . . . it will become the standard reference on Ruth Ellis' Stewart P. Evans, crime historian

Carol Ann Lee

Books by Carol Ann Lee

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