I watched a BBC documentary on Ruth Ellis and was intrigued enough by her story to want to read more. Carol Ann Lee's biography is probably the most objective, in that the author is a woman and the book was written fairly recently, but Ruth's life - and the crime she was executed for - remains a complex subject.

Did Ruth Ellis shoot her lover, David Blakely? Yes. Did she deserve to be put to death for her crime? She thought yes, but Lee suggests that Ellis was also a victim - of Blakely, society, and the justice system - and I would tend to agree. Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, was executed more for who she was and what she looked like, rather than the severity of her crime. A working class nightclub manageress with peroxide blonde hair and two children to two different men could not be allowed to shoot a middle class playboy and be seen to get away with her crime.

I felt for Ruth, but also wanted to shake her. Just dump him, and get out of that toxic relationship! Her history of abuse and aspirations to better herself, however, combined to trap her into thinking she couldn't live without Blakely, who clearly didn't love or respect her. So easy to sympathise, but troubling to read. Not that Lee shies away from painting an honest portrait of Ruth herself - she gave up everything to try and possess her lover, including an independent life and her own children.

A fascinating account of the last woman to be hanged for murder in the UK. ( )

The definite book on Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in England back in 1955, shortly before they abolished the death penalty.

Take a less than stable woman with a cheating, lying poor excuse for a man = DISASTER.

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