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?
Genre: Historical
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?
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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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