This is a collection of historical fiction short-stories by the local (Melbourne) female writer Laura Elizabeth Woollett. I have to say, this is a truly brilliant concept for a book, and I’ve not read anything like it. Woollett has the ability to take the horrific stories that people have heard over and over before, and rewrite them from a fresh angle.

Clearly this is fiction, but whilst there are painful truths to these stories which make them incredibly difficult to read, there is a lot to gain from the imagination of Woollett herself. I’ve read a few reviews from people who were uncomfortable with the presumptiveness that the women in the stories were less guilty than the ‘bad’ men around them. My take on this is that it is simply fiction, and it was an interesting perspective to tackle.

After finishing each short story, I found myself immediately Google-ing the characters to educate myself. Woollett did an incredible job of stepping into each character and writing from such varied perspectives. Much like with acting, I always admire a writer who has the ability to make me completely forget their existence as they become the voice of their characters – and Woollett has achieved just that.

I hired this book from the library, but it’s one of those books I’ve become so fascinated by that I’ll be searching out a copy for my own shelves as soon as possible. I’m truly anticipating Woollett’s next book, whatever that may be.

- from polreaderblog[dot]wordpress[dot]com ( )

It's a question that has preyed on a lot of people's minds over the years - why do women fall for, and stay with, the worst possible men? What author Laura Elizabeth Woollett has done is imagine her author's pen into the minds and lives of some of these women in her series of short stories - THE LOVE OF A BAD MAN. Which ends up presenting the reader with an interesting series of fictional looks inside real women's minds that feel very real.

The range of women is historically and geographically varied, and the style of storytelling beguiling enough to have reader's guessing some identities to start. For something with such a dark subject at heart, it's an interesting style, almost light at points. Which makes the idea that you're inside the minds of women like Eva Braun, a disciple of Charles Manson, Myra Hindley and Marceline Jones (wife of Jim Jones of Jonestown massacre infamy), for example, particularly chilling.

Chilling is the word for this entire collection. It's not a heavy-handed message, it's more subtle than that. It's in the way that this author has rendered these women so real, so believable, sympathetic and even likeable in some cases, despite the dreadful things they condone or participate in. All in the name of love.

There are twelve stories in total in THE LOVE OF A BAD MAN, and whilst each one can be read reasonably quickly, you will undoubtedly find yourself going back to re-read. Which is well worth the effort as each re-read reveals different layers and even more questions than you might have started out with.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-love-bad-man-laura-elizabeth-wool... ( )