07/18/2005 10:41 AM
Posted by VeggieSteph

The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London by Sarah Wise

The Italian Boy is a true crime novel based on the infamous 1831 London case of Williams, May, and Bishop, body snatchers and murderers. The book includes chapters that outline the history of the areas where the crimes were committed, and includes a fairly thorough account of the crimes and trial, considering the lack of official court documentation available.

While I enjoyed the main story and its look into the crime of body snatching, I felt like the extra chapters devoted to the history of the police force, the various boroughs, and the like, were filler rather than integral to the story. Maybe if the author had condensed those sections into a chapter of the overall history of 1930s London, I wouldn’t have felt that way. Instead, the chapters were interspersed amongst the story of the crime and trial, breaking the small amount of tension provided by that story.



Otherwise, the story of Williams, May, and Bishop is a limited look into the life of the poor, the ease at which they were lost in the streets, the difficulties of police investigation, the medical profession, and the judicial system of 1831 London. Because the government regulated the use of cadavers, the London poor found a way to make money – stealing cadavers from graves and selling them to medical schools. Once the police started cracking down on the thieves, they found another way to provide bodies to the medical schools for dissection; they would murder the unsuspecting lost and poor out on the streets looking for work. Williams, May, and Bishop were suspected, tried, and convicted of the harvesting of “The Italian Boy” and at least one other, and of selling the bodies to medical schools. The police suspected the trio of killing many more than just the two people, but without the “produce,” they were unable to prove it. While they confessed to the crimes of which they were charged plus a few more, there is some speculation as to whether they confessed to all of their murders, if they actually killed "The Italian Boy" or if he was someone else entirely, or if their families were as blameless as they claimed. (With public outcry being entense and wide-spread, it is a strong possibility that they shielded their families as best they could by covering for them.)

It was worth a read, I just wish it had more detail (like Helter Skelter). I understand why there wasn’t more detail (lack of court documents, required use of newspaper articles that weren't always reliable), but I think that is why the filler chapters disappointed me so much. It felt like I was paying for a novel, when I should have paid for a novella.