Alice + Freda Forever

August 4, 2014
Coe, a columnist for The Awl, sheds light on one of the most lurid murder trials of the late-19th century, in this lively, provocative history. Prior to January of 1892, Alice Mitchell had planned on wedding her 17-year-old lover, Freda Ward. The two teenagers devised a plan in which Alice would try to pass as a man. But when their love letters were uncovered and the two were separated, a heartbroken Alice brutally murdered her ex-fiancée. As the details of their relationship were revealed during the subsequent media frenzy and trial, the American public struggled to comprehend the then-unspoken-of concept of same-sex love. But as Coe shows, the affair between Alice and Freda started as a socially-acceptable bond between two women, before deepening into something far more profound, bordering on outright insanity (known then as eratomania). Gender politics and societal expectations brought undue pressure on the romance, and Alice's fate (institutionalized, dying soon after from consumption) is somehow mysterious. It's an odd, even unsettling look at cultural attitudes of the 1890s. Coe argues that Alice acted not as a frustrated lesbian, but as a dangerous person just waiting for the right trigger. The author addresses the many cultural issues entangled in the controversy, providing impressively compact, albeit not expansive, coverage of the event. It's a well-written effort that makes the most of its source material on two levels, both as true crime and as social commentary. Illus.

September 15, 2014
The story of a Gilded Age-era homicide that stunned a nation with its sheer violence and tabooed origins. Haunted for years about the case, media columnist and historian Coe chronicles a 19th-century, Memphis, Tennessee-based ordeal of coldblooded murder and the jilted lesbian love that inspired it. As teenagers who fell in love in 1892, Alice Mitchell and Freda Ward threw caution to the wind, exchanged rings and anticipated marital bliss. Coe recounts their illicit affair through love letters, graphic artwork and entrancing detail as Alice, the more enamored partner when compared to the flirtatious, fickle Freda, became enraged when she learned of her fiancee's heterosexual infidelities. After a failed poisoning and an attempt to dress as a man to legally consummate their nuptials, their missives were intercepted and the relationship exposed. Forbidden from contact, the women drifted apart, yet Alice, angered and despondent, watched and waited for the perfect opportunity to approach Freda and slash her throat in public. Being the Victorian era, this type of savage crime of passion provoked sensationalistic front-page "creative reporting," especially as same-sex attraction was just beginning to be recognized as psychologically sound and not classified as perverse "erotomania." An insanity plea fueled a frenzied courtroom staffed by an all-white, male jury and a lunacy inquisition, which sentenced Alice to be institutionalized. In revisiting such a fascinating and nearly forgotten true-crime event, Coe argues that the societal, gender and cultural restraints of the era limited the options and civic compassion that could've been visited upon Alice, a woman the author presents as both a psychotic murderer and a scorned lesbian-yet it remains a mystery which personality trait took such drastic vengeance on that fateful day. A historically resonant reminder of how far societal tolerance has come and that it still remains a work in progress.

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Starred review from September 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-The year was 1892, and 19-year-old Alice Mitchell was in love with Freda Ward, 17. She determined that if she couldn't marry Freda, nobody else would, either. The two women devised a plan to marry, with Alice posing as a man. However, their scheme was uncovered, and their families forbade the relationship. Freda moved on with her life and discovered other loves. Alice was unable to accept life without Freda and decided to kill her former lover when she visited Memphis. This true-crime drama uses primary-source documents of letters and transcripts from the trial to provide a rich, detailed description of Alice's successful murder plot and the events following the verdict that declared Alice insane and sentenced her to an asylum. 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.-April Sanders, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014

In 1892, 19-year-old Alice Mitchell publicly killed her lover Freda Ward by the Memphis, TN, docks. Coe's narrative explores the tumultuous affair between the two volatile young women, from their budding school romance, through multiple threats, reconciliations, and instances of emotional manipulation, all the way to Freda's violent death. Immediately confessing to her crime of passion, Alice became the center of a media circus the likes of which the town had never seen--love (and murder) between women was unheard of at the time, particularly between white Southern women from respectable families. Utilizing numerous illustrated reproductions, Coe addresses the sexism and racism that informed court proceedings, as well as the context and effect of the Mitchell case in the wider sphere of gender politics and female "deviant" sexuality. The reproductions of letters in Freda's and Alice's writing, while lending a personal component to the analysis, can be tedious to decipher, and the images, though skillfully rendered, don't do much to enhance what is already a provocative account of Alice and Freda's case (though their macabre nature might appeal to younger readers). VERDICT Highly recommended as an insightful exploration of an important historical true crime and a solid introduction to narrative nonfiction.--Ashleigh Williams, School Library Journal

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014
Grades 10-1 This thoroughly researched expos' considers a murder that took place in Victorian-era Memphis. The scandalous crime involved two teens, Alice Mitchell and Freda Ward, from good families, embroiled in a lesbian love affair gone wrong. Events played out tragically; Alice, hurt by Freda's nonchalance after their affair was discovered, attacked and killed Freda in public. Alice was declared insane, locked away in an asylum, and found dead six years later, allegedly a victim of accidental drowning but more likely a suicide. The author employs letters, journals, newspaper articles, and court records to outline facts, re-create scenarios, and speculate about motives. Also covered are contemporary societal norms and how the case's erotomania provided fodder for the era's sensationalist press. This selection might attract fans of true crime, such as Erik Larson's Devil in the White City (2003), although the content concentrates more on the historical setting than intrigue or suspense. This could also serve as a gritty rebuttal to idealized period romances extolling the virtues of demure and genteel femininity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)