Anne Perry

The Murder of the Century

By: Peter Graham

Narrated by: Eric Brooks

Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

The spellbinding true story of Anne Perry, her friend Pauline Parker, and the brutal crime they committed in the name of friendship.

On June 22, 1954, teenage friends Juliet Hulme - better known as best-selling mystery writer Anne Perry - and Pauline Parker went for a walk in a New Zealand park with Pauline’s mother, Honora. Half an hour later, the girls returned alone, claiming that Pauline’s mother had had an accident. But when Honora Parker was found in a pool of blood with the brick used to bludgeon her to death close at hand, Juliet and Pauline were quickly arrested, and later confessed to the killing. Their motive? A plan to escape to the United States to become writers, and Honora’s determination to keep them apart. Their incredible story made shocking headlines around the world and would provide the subject for Peter Jackson’s Academy Award-nominated film, Heavenly Creatures.

A sensational trial followed, with speculations about the nature of the girls’ relationship and possible insanity playing a key role. Among other things, Parker and Hulme were suspected of lesbianism, which was widely considered to be a mental illness at the time. This mesmerizing book offers a brilliant account of the crime and ensuing trial and shares dramatic revelations about the fates of the young women after their release from prison. With penetrating insight, this thorough analysis applies modern psychology to analyze the shocking murder that remains one of the most interesting cases of all time.

©2013 Peter Graham (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Dreadful narration, interesting story

I've been fascinated by the murder of Honorah Parker since seeing the movie Heavenly Creatures (Kate Winslet's debut) in which her teenage daughter Pauline and best friend Juliet (possibly lesbian lover) bludgeoned Honorah with a brick in a stocking. I highly recommend the movie. The grizzly murder happened in New Zealand in 1954.

After serving under six years the girls were given new identities. Upon the movie's release, Juliet was discovered to be best selling crime writer Anne Perry.

The murders and the psychopathology behind ANNE PERRY AND THR MURDER OF THE CENTURY are so much more interesting than this very dry book, filled with too many irrelevant details. Psychological assessment was in its infancy during the 1950s and at the time homosexuality was considered a mental illness. Three prosecution and two defense psychiatrists debated whether these two mentally ill teens were insane at the time of the murders, and even considered whether this was a case of folie a deux (shared psychosis). Most interesting is the chapter looking at the girls from today's psychological perspective of severe personality disorders caused by a disruption in the attachment bonds both girls experienced as children. Much of my doctoral dissertation used Heinz Kohut's theoretical orientation, as did this writer Peter Graham, who did a great job conceptualizing their disorders.

I skimmed a lot of this nonfiction book, and there were nuggets of interesting details, particularly for those interested in mental illness and crime. I recommend watching Heavenly Creatures before reading the book, while fictionalized, the movie is fairly true to actual events.

Interesting the entire time.

Start to finish this story stayed interesting. Did speed the narrator up as it was moving slower than I wanted. Can’t wait it to watch the movie.

Narration awful

I really was interested in the story but the narrator is boring and monotone...hard to get through...don’t know if I can finish it

Dreadful narration

What did you like best about Anne Perry? What did you like least?

The story itself is fascinating and as I've read and enjoyed most of Anne Perry's books, I was determined to get through this book. However the narrator almost made me give up.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The juxtaposition of a successful adult and such a dysfunctional young woman. The psychology of the time was also interesting, the views of same sex relationships, and the inevitable blaming of the mothers for the sins of the children.

How could the performance have been better?

The narration was completely mechanical and was nearly impossible to listen to. Any other narrator would have been an improvement.

Could you see Anne Perry being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It was made into a movie called Heavenly Creatures and starred Kate Winslet as Juliet Hulme/Anne Perry. Unfortunately, it is hard to find and does not seem to be available for streaming.

Interesting but unpleasant narration

Although an interesting topic it was lacking any satisfying understanding of the murderers. Any weaknesses in the book were accentuated by the narration. The narrator was so plodding I had to accelerate it and it was still unpleasantly dragging. Rarely do I ever have to speed up a narration, but this one was brutal.

Gratifyingly detailed.

I was pretty familiar with this story already, having seen Heavenly Creatures when it came out and having read a few things about the case, but there were many details included in this book that I hadn't known and enjoyed reading. The detail available, including actual testimony from the case, lengthy passages from diaries, and information from many close to the case, was very impressive. I was frankly astonished to hear accounts of the way both girls maintained their sickeningly grandiose superiority complexes well after they were separated and in prison. I suppose I had imagined that it wouldn't have taken long for them to come back down to earth, but this was not the case at all.

Knowing that Juliet Hulme would go on to become a famous and well-respected author, I had hoped to see some iota of remorse or guilt, but the book ends with no such epiphany. It was very discomfiting, actually, to consider the possibility that perhaps Anne Perry truly is not and was never able to appreciate the wrongness of her conduct. Likewise I would have liked to have heard more about when and whether Parker came to truly regret what she had done. There are no answers about this to be had, however, as neither woman was involved in the research of the book and there is little information available about what either thought of what they had done when they were adults.

The narrator was a bit annoying to listen to, primarily because of the mechanical way he was reading, but it didn't bother me unduly.

AWFUL

Story is all over the place and managed to make a tragedy absolutely boring. In addition, the narrator seems to be reading the story as if he is using his finger to follow the sentences. He is the worst. Will never ever get a book if he is the narrator.

3 Stars

Interesting story, but it is really drawn out and parts are very uninteresting. Reading is very mundane

Great book, bad reader

Interesting look at why two teenage girls committed murder. A great book for a salon, discussion, book club, etc. But you may enjoy it more borrowing it from the library and reading it yourself.

Eric Brooks has limitations as a narrator.

The quality of his voice is pleasant and easy to listen to. Unfortunately, you can hear him struggling with words whose pronunciation he finds challenging, including people’s names. In particular, there are terms related to Oxbridge—Magdalen, Caius, gaudeamus, and more—that Brooks takes a guess at, and guesses wrong. There’s a lot of detail in the book about university life, so I’m surprised he didn’t rehearse those before recording. Input from a director would have been helpful. Some of Graham’s sentences are fairly long, and Brooks has trouble maintaining a vocal through-line. He tends to insert inopportune commas, letting his intonation drop in the middle of a thought, which effectively chops the sentence in half. After a while, all this becomes hard to listen to.