From Publishers Weekly
One afternoon in 1796, Mary Lamb, aged 31, killed her mother with a carving knife at the dinner table. Like Kathy Watson in her recent The Devil Kissed Her: The Story of Mary Lamb, Hitchcock diagnoses manic-depression at the heart of Mary's matricidal act and her subsequent stays in Britain's early mental asylums. Hitchcock (Coming About: A Family Passage at Sea), however, is far more willing to speculate about the gaps in the record of Mary's life, not to mention her thoughts and feelings as she regained something like a normal existence after the murder, which was judged an act of madness. Despite eventual bestselling collaborations with her brother, essayist Charles Lamb, in Tales from Shakespeare and Poetry for Children, Mary left an erratic documentary trail, with only one significant personal essay, which Hitchcock sees as proto-feminist. Charles, her lifelong protector, remains the best source about his sister and their shared life. But his letters to such friends as Samuel Coleridge and Robert Southey show some reserve about the delicate subject of his sister's mental health. With such gaps, Hitchcock often resorts to reading into existing texts or inferring details of Mary's asylum experiences from typical practices of the time, which only partially resuscitates this tragic but elusive life. 32 illus. not seen by PW. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Mary Lamb and her younger brother, Charles, are best known today as the authors of Tales from Shakespeare, a retelling of the plays of Shakespeare for children. But the Lambs were immersed in both scandal and the elite literary circles of their times. In 1796, 32-year-old Mary Lamb stabbed her own mother to death in an apparent act of lunacy, according to the courts of the day. Rather than being sentenced to death, Mary was sent to a madhouse. Although she was released six months later and eventually rejoined her brother, Mary was to have periodic relapses for the rest of her life, and her first trip to the madhouse was hardly the last. But the Lambs were also members of a brilliant literary circle, which included Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and William Godwin. Touching on the lunacy laws of the day, the plight of women, and the burgeoning children's publishing industry, Hitchcock vividly evokes the changing times the Lambs lived in. A vibrant literary biography. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


George Garrett, author of Bad Man Blues
A powerful story told with passion, authenticity and grace, a significant contribution to knowledge and understanding of the bygone age.


B. Ashton Nichols, author of The Revolutionary "I"
A compelling tale of murder, mental illness, familial love and literary redemption.


Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind
A wonderful book: a fascinating story, beautifully written, a superb account of the complicated intersection of insanity and literature.


Book Description
After the style of The Professor and the Madman, a dramatic story set against a backdrop of literary history. Mary Lamb—a dutiful daughter, well liked by just about everyone—killed her own mother with a knife. She spent the rest of her life in and out of madhouses, yet the crime and its aftermath opened up a life that no woman of her time or class could have expected. Free to read extensively, Lamb discovered her talent for writing. She and her brother, the essayist Charles Lamb, embarked on a literary collaboration that resulted in the famous Tales from Shakespeare. Confidante to many of Britain's Romantics including Coleridge, Godwin, and Wordsworth, Mary Lamb stood at the vibrant center of a colorful literary circle. Through a deep reading of history, letters, and literature, Susan Tyler Hitchcock brings to life an intriguing portrait of Lamb and her world. This narrative of a nearly forgotten woman becomes a tapestry of insights into creativity and madness, the changing lives of women, and the redemptive power of the written word. 32 illustrations.


About the Author
Susan Tyler Hitchcock has written seven books. She has a Ph.D. in English and works as a freelance writer and editor. She lives outside of Charlottesville, Virginia.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Mary Lamb - a dutiful daughter, well liked by just about everyone - killed her own mother with a carving knife. She spent the rest of her life in and out of madhouses, yet the crime and its aftermath opened up a life that no woman of her time or class could have expected. Freed to read extensively, Mary Lamb discovered her talent for writing. She and her brother, the essayist Charles Lamb, embarked on a literary collaboration that resulted in the famous Tales from Shakespear. Confidante to many of Britain's Romantics including Coleridge, Godwin, and Wordsworth, Mary Lamb stood at the vibrant center of a colorful literary circle. Through a deep reading of history, letters, and literature, Susan Tyler Hitchcock brings to life an intriguing portrait of Mary Lamb and her world. This narrative of a nearly forgotten woman becomes a tapestry of insights into creativity and madness, the changing lives of women, and the redemptive power of the written word.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New Yorker

In 1796, in a fit of insanity, Mary Lamb, aged thirty-one, murdered her mother with a carving knife. Thereafter, despite periodic spells in asylums, she played host to Coleridge and Wordsworth and was the principal author of the famous “Tales from Shakespeare,” written with her better-known brother Charles. Charles was an alcoholic with a stutter and a limp who had a blistering sense of humor, and who, under the pen name Elia, artfully reinvented the personal essay. It was only a matter of time before modern biographers rediscovered the unconventional pair. Hitchcock’s is the third biography of the Lambs to appear in the past couple of years, and capably rescues Mary from the footnotes of her brother’s story. But this somewhat bland account fails to convey the quirkiness of the Lamb siblings, or to illuminate a literary partnership that lasted for nearly forty years.

Publishers Weekly

One afternoon in 1796, Mary Lamb, aged 31, killed her mother with a carving knife at the dinner table. Like Kathy Watson in her recent The Devil Kissed Her: The Story of Mary Lamb, Hitchcock diagnoses manic-depression at the heart of Mary's matricidal act and her subsequent stays in Britain's early mental asylums. Hitchcock (Coming About: A Family Passage at Sea), however, is far more willing to speculate about the gaps in the record of Mary's life, not to mention her thoughts and feelings as she regained something like a normal existence after the murder, which was judged an act of madness. Despite eventual bestselling collaborations with her brother, essayist Charles Lamb, in Tales from Shakespeare and Poetry for Children, Mary left an erratic documentary trail, with only one significant personal essay, which Hitchcock sees as proto-feminist. Charles, her lifelong protector, remains the best source about his sister and their shared life. But his letters to such friends as Samuel Coleridge and Robert Southey show some reserve about the delicate subject of his sister's mental health. With such gaps, Hitchcock often resorts to reading into existing texts or inferring details of Mary's asylum experiences from typical practices of the time, which only partially resuscitates this tragic but elusive life. 32 illus. not seen by PW. Agents, Miriam Goderich and Jane Dystel. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Mary Lamb is the little-known sister of essayist Charles Lamb, with whom she coauthored the much-loved Tales of Shakespeare. What few of her contemporaries realized was that Mary suffered from severe mental illness, probably bipolar syndrome, which led to her stabbing her mother in a manic fit. In this well-researched book, Hitchcock (Geography of Religion) traces Mary's life and social circle in detail, drawing on historical accounts, letters, and literature to reconstruct the circumstances of the stabbing and its resulting impact on the Lamb family. Interestingly, Mary had to endure only about six months' treatment at Fisher House, a moderately priced, private madhouse, smaller than the infamous Bedlam, before she was allowed to move into her own room. Mary's illness would recur throughout her life, often requiring hospitalization; upon recovery, she would resume her normal activities of reading, writing, and serving as her brother's companion (Charles never married). Together, they entertained writers and thinkers of the time, such as Coleridge, Wordsworth, Godwin, and Hazlitt. This book adds an important dimension to our understanding of an era dominated by men, highlighting Mary's contributions to Charles's work as well as documenting the effect of madness on her life and creativity. Recommended for college and large public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/04.]-Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews