NEVER SEEN THE MOON The Trials of Edith Maxwell

Hardback. Free-spirited young teacher Edith Maxwell returned late one July night in 1935 to her Wise County, Virginia, home and to her conservative and domineering father, Trigg. After hearing a scuffle, a neighbour arrived to find Trigg Maxwell lying unconscious on the kitchen floor as his family looked on. Within 15 minutes Maxwell was dead - evidently from being bludgeoned. Edith and her mother, Ann, were indicted for his murder the next day. The author's account of this story transforms a dusty piece of history into a vibrant page-turner filled with dramatic twists and turns. This is the story of how an event local authorities dismissed as just another murder came to captivate newspaper readers across the country. The case also symbolised a national shift in attitudes toward women and their place in the world - particularly the issue of jury participation. Edith claimed that her father had tried to whip her for staying out late. She had, she said, defended herself with a high-heeled shoe, thus earning the sobriquets "slipper slayer" and "curfew girl." Immediately granted celebrity status by the powerful Hearst newspaper syndicate, Maxwell was also championed as a martyr by advocates of women's causes. Claiming her actions to be a justified reaction to years of physical and verbal abuse, feminists regarded the case as the embodiment of the depression debate between modern and traditional values. A lurid yet lucid recreation of a young woman's wild ride through the legal system. It is also an examination of the national press's stereotyped coverage of Appalachian culture, and that coverage's effect on the outcome of the case. The author's discussions of class and gender tensions in a developing region, the inequities of the jury system for women, tabloid journalism, and a woman's rights to defend herself from family violence, all combine to illuminate the era's social history, and remains chillingly relevant to the issues of today. Illus., Epilogue, Afterword, Notes, Bibliographic Essay and Index. 286pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in f. dw. A fairly heavy book which may require additional postage.