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A Fatal Love
- Author
- Louisa Treger
- Narrator
- Laura Enston
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 27 August 2026
- Run Time
- 7 hours 46 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Following Ruth Ellis’ long-awaited posthumous conditional pardon in July 2026, never has there been a more compelling moment to revisit the woman behind one of Britain's most enduring legal cases.
It is Easter Sunday in 1955 and a young man lies face-down on the ground covered in blood. A woman, blonde and petite, stands over him with a gun in her hand. This is the story of Ruth Ellis as never told before...
As Ruth awaits her trial in Holloway Prison, she recollects growing up in England during the Second World War and the events that led to the death of her lover, David Blakely.
Meanwhile, Kitty Carrington - the assistant to Ruth's trial lawyer - tries to forge her own path through the male-dominated legal world of the 1950s and ensure that Ruth receives a fair trial.
Navigating secrets, betrayal and a broken justice system, Ruth and Kitty try to take control of their own lives and narratives. But do we ever really know the full story?
Critics Review
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Louisa Treger is for me a must-read author, and I believe A Fatal Love is her best novel to date.
Set in the murky, pseudo-glamour of post war drinking clubs in London, this beguiling account of the betrayal of a woman cursed by her beauty and her class held me rapt from the start. Both thrilling and seductive, and yet so sensitively written … it will break many hearts. Brava! What an achievement.Essie Fox
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A Fatal Love is a mesmerising and simply unforgettable read. Days on, I can’t stop thinking about it and telling other people they simply must read it. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I found a book so compulsive. I took it as a beach read on holiday and towards the end, I was still sitting on my sun lounger as darkness fell, simultaneously turning the pages, yet dreading the end.
This is a book that had to be written by Treger, for it is only an author of her calibre, capacity for empathy and forensic eye for detail, who could bring Ruth Ellis to life so skilfully and humanely.
Seventy years ago, a judgemental society robbed Ruth Ellis of her dignity and her voice. Louisa Treger has restored it, in this masterful, powerful and heartwrenching novel.
This is hands down my book of the year.Kate Thompson
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A powerful and compassionate novel that gives voice to one of the century's most misunderstood women and examines the abusive relationship that led her, ultimately, to kill.
Anna Mazzola
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With forensically detailed research and beautifully atmospheric writing, Louisa Treger puts a human face on the woman they called a monster, and asks who was really the victim in the toxic love affair that led her to murder. Devastatingly sad and utterly compelling, this is a story that demands to be read, discussed and remembered. Perfect for book club reading, it will stay in my mind for a very long time.
Frances Quinn
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A Fatal Love is an absolute triumph and worthy of every accolade. Visceral and raw, resonant and tragic, Treger brings to life Ruth Ellis’s story with great skill, compassion and humanity. Shining a light on the inequity of society, the classist attitudes and prejudices that stacked up against her, there is no sugar coating, or making her out to be a saint. Instead, Ruth’s story is presented as she lived. Flawed, damaged, abused and let down by every man who should have cared for her. Through the pages of this novel, Ruth’s desperation to be loved and the destructive power of obsession reach out and grab your heart. A Fatal Love destroyed me in the very best way possible, and I shall be thinking about it long after I closed the final page.
Louise Fein
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A novel that will move you to the core. From abused wife to abused lover, Ruth Ellis didn't stand a chance when she was sucked into the toxic gravitational pull of David Blakeley. With profound sensitivity and insight, Louisa Treger takes us inside Ruth's fractured thoughts and emotions as she puts an end to the man who has caused her so much suffering then prepares to face the hangman's noose. I cried like a baby.
Gill Paul
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This devastating, powerful novel, and particularly the impact of the final heart-breaking scenes will haunt me for a very long time. It's compelling characters and horribly inevitable conclusion form a story which is full of quiet fury against domestic abuse and the death penalty. This is a subtle, raw portrait of Ruth Ellis which makes her so human and relatable in spite of her many flaws. A modern classic.
Maggie Brookes
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A Fatal Love is a mesmerising and simply unforgettable read. Days on, I can’t stop thinking about it and telling other people they simply must read it. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I found a book so compulsive. I took it as a beach read on holiday and towards the end, I was still sitting on my sun lounger as darkness fell, simultaneously turning the pages, yet dreading the end.
This is a book that had to be written by Treger, for it is only an author of her calibre, capacity for empathy and forensic eye for detail, who could bring Ruth Ellis to life so skilfully and humanely. Seventy years ago, a judgemental society robbed Ruth Ellis of her dignity and her voice. Louisa Treger has restored it, in this masterful, powerful and heart-wrenching novel. This is hands down my book of the year.Kate Thompson
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Vivid
Crime Monthly
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Superb
Prima
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A tragic and compassionate portrait of a woman who had all the odds against her.
Good Housekeeping
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Vividly and grippingly portrayed
The Times
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Unbearably tense and utterly harrowing, a superb novel
The Daily Mail
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Louisa Treger
- Narrator
- Laura Enston
- Duration
- 7 hours 46 minutes
- Release Date
- 27 August 2026
- ISBN
- 9781037209864
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Historical fiction, Domestic abuse, Historical crime and mysteries
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents A Fatal Love by Louisa Treger, read by Laura Enston, granddaughter of Ruth Ellis.Following Ruth Ellis’ long-awaited posthumous conditional pardon in July 2026, never has there been a more compelling moment to revisit the woman behind one of Britain's most enduring legal cases.It is Easter Sunday in 1955 and a young man lies face-down on the ground covered in blood. A woman, blonde and petite, stands over him with a gun in her hand. This is the story of Ruth Ellis as never told before...As Ruth awaits her trial in Holloway Prison, she recollects growing up in England during the Second World War and the events that led to the death of her lover, David Blakely.Meanwhile, Kitty Carrington - the assistant to Ruth's trial lawyer - tries to forge her own path through the male-dominated legal world of the 1950s and ensure that Ruth receives a fair trial.Navigating secrets, betrayal and a broken justice system, Ruth and Kitty try to take control of their own lives and narratives. But do we ever really know the full story?
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