{"product_id":"a-most-quiet-murder-susannah-wilson-9781501784224","title":"A Most Quiet Murder: Maternity, Affliction, and Violence in Late Nineteenth-Century France","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Most Quiet Murder\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e examines the death of a five-year-old girl in late nineteenth-century France, unfolding the mystery through judicial investigations, psychiatric medical evaluations, and ultimately, a trial for murder. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe investigators quickly learned that the child, Henriette, had been abducted by Marie-Françoise Fiquet, an employee at the city tobacco factory and known troublemaker. Fiquet had taken the child back to her home and kept her there all day. But what actually happened between the abduction at midday and the discovery of the child's body at five o'clock in the morning remained a mystery. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSusannah Wilson uses archival records, press coverage, and psychiatric reports to reveal how the troubled history and reputation of Marie-Françoise Fiquet, marked by suspicions of sexual debauchery, infanticide, abortions, poisoning, theft, and extortion, was a case study in an emerging medical paradigm. Her signs of trauma, psychological disturbance, and medical morphine abuse provide insight into factitious disorders--or simulated illnesses--that would be more commonly observed in the following century. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Most Quiet Murder\u003c\/i\u003e provides a new view of nineteenth-century France, where the law and public authorities intervened in the lives of the working classes and their children during moments of crisis to exercise the law of the land. The murder of a child reveals the connections between the psychology of female violence, the emergent understanding of factitious disorders, and the psychologically complex motives that extend beyond simple altruism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Susannah Wilson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1501784226\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781501784224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Cornell University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/15\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 168\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.87lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.50d","brand":"Susannah Wilson","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47930825965823,"sku":"9781501784224","price":44.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_d77df276-be90-4ad4-a786-3af07be4789b.jpg?v=1766344527","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-most-quiet-murder-susannah-wilson-9781501784224","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}