This is a book I read recently and really enjoyed. It's a historical thriller based on the crimes of Leonarda Cianciulli who killed three women as sacrifices to keep her son alive. She would then used the remains to make cakes and soaps and sell them. We are giving a insight into Leonarda's mind for her actions and how she rationalizes her crimes, her main reason being to make sure her son Giuseppe stays alive, her fears coming from a fortune teller's prediction and after so many miscarriages that she has become so overwhelming protective of him that any time she hears a hitch in his breathing as he sleeps, any scrape or cut from a fall and fears he might catch a cold send her into a worry. With the murders you see her rationalize that must be meant to happen when first with Faustina then with Francesca both women seem to almost offer themselves up to Leonarda as sacrifices, Francesca even says "you wake up one day and realise no one would notice if you weren't there,that you've become a ghost in your own life", no one really seems to question when Faustina and Francesca both vanish from the town accepting the supposed reasons such as looking for change or a job. All things begin to unravel with the third victim Virginia Cacioppo, who is vibrant, confident and vivacious. Where as her other two victims were muted, sort of invisible. Leonarda does sense that Virginia is a risk she still does away with her and I partly think she does so out of jealousy as Virginia was everything Leonarda wasn't, but soon Virginia's disappearance leads to the police showing up after her relative kicks up a fuss. Fearing her son will be arrested, Leonarda admits to her crimes. Leonarda ends up in a asylum even though she doesn't think she mad and Giuseppe leaves town after some time to make his own way in the world. This was a great book and second one in the similar vein of using a real historical case. This made some changes for creative and simplifying reasons, such as Leonarda's husband was not a butcher but a registry office clerk, also she had four surviving children but her sone Giuseppe was her favourite of them. As a true crime fanatic I was aware of the Leonarda Cianciulli case which is why this book appealed to me and I'm interested in reading the other books Amelia Frost has written that both take from real historical events. I recommend this for anyone who loves history, thrillers and stuff based on true events.
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