Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum

Description:

Broadmoor Revealed gives the reader a glimpse behind the walls of England’s first Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Focused on the Victorian period, the book tells the stories of some of the hospital’s best-known patients. There is Edward Oxford, who shot at Queen Victoria, and Richard Dadd, the brilliant artist and murderer of his father. There is also William Chester Minor, the surgeon from America who killed a stranger in London, and then played a key part in creating the world's finest dictionary. Finally, there is Christiana Edmunds, ‘The Chocolate Cream Poisoner’ and frustrated lover. To these four tales are added new ones, previously unknown. There were five women who went on to become mothers in Broadmoor, giving birth to life when three of them had previously taken it. Then there were the numerous escapes, actual and attempted, as the first doctors tried to assert control over their residents. These are stories from the edge of where true crime meets mental illness. Broadmoor Revealed recounts what life was like for the criminally insane, over one hundred years ago.

Review:
This was my first Ebook read in its entirety (I have recently brought a Kindle). And whilst looking at recommended reads this was suggested and due to it being free I thought i would be worth a try.
I am a bit fanatical about British history and history of crime in particular so to find out about the history of the most famous prison in Britain was brilliant, I read this book cover to cover including the references in one day, I could not put it down. All aspects of the history was covered, why it was built, the first doctors who ran the prison and the infamous escapes! Recommend to everyone that would be interested in this piece of history.