The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith: Victorian Scotland’s Trial of the Century

It was a case that rocked Victorian society. Emile L’Angelier was a working-class immigrant from the Channel Islands who began a clandestine affair with prominent Glasgow socialite Madeleine Smith. Six weeks after Emile threatened to show Madeleine’s father their passionate letters, on 23 March 1857, he was found dead from arsenic poisoning. The evidence against Madeleine seemed overwhelming as she went to trial for murdering her lover.Douglas MacGowan’s vivid account reads by turns like a thriller, a love story and a courtroom drama. He quotesextensively from contemporary sources, notably the pathology reports, the trial testimony and the infamous correspondence between Madeleine and Emile, whose explicit content so shocked Victorian sensibilities. Ultimately it is up to the reader to judge Madeleine’s guilt or innocence.

Reviews of The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith: Victorian Scotland’s Trial of the Century

'This case has it all – class, gender, the whiff of scandal and a whodunnit, all wrapped up in the hypocrisy of the legal system of Victorian Scotland' — Professor Emeritus David Wilson 'absolutely compelling' * Evening Times * 'a meticulous overview of the evidence' * Sunday Herald *