The Poison Principle

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A truly moving memoir and a fascinating exploration of the history of poison.When Dr William Macbeth poisoned two of his sons in 1927, his wife and sister hid the murders in the intensely private realm of family secrets. Like the famous poisoner Dr Crippen, Macbeth behaved as if he were immune to consequences; unlike Crippen, he avoided detection and punishment. Or did he? Secrets can be as corrosive as poison, and as time passed, the story of Dr William Macbeth, well-dressed poisoner, haunted and divided his descendants.Macbeth's granddaughter, Gail Bell, who grew up with the story, spent ten years reading the literature of poisoning in order to 'read' and understand Macbeth's life. A chemist herself, she listened for echoes in the great cases of the nineteenth and twentieth century, in myths, fiction and poison lore.Intricate and beautifully written, with a moving twist at the end of the story, this is a book about family guilt and secrets. It is also an exploration of the nature of death itself, as Bell turns to her grandfather's poisonous predecessors - from Cleopatra and Madame Bovary to Napolean and Harold Shipman.