Mrs Pearcey

Lottie Moggach's novel reimagines the 1890 Mary Pearcey murders through the perspective of a fictional young woman in Camden investigating the crime; it uses rich period detail and contemporary concerns about sensationalism to examine gender, reading, and social expectations.

The book interweaves archival research—including periodicals and sensation fiction—with invented characters to probe motivations and gaps in the historical record.

Moggach foregrounds how reading practices and moral panics shaped attitudes towards women and crime in the late nineteenth century.

The narrative balances dark true-crime elements with a protagonist's personal growth and ambition to write, highlighting literacy's role in forming identity.

Overall, the novel is both a page-turning historical crime story and a meditation on storytelling, evidence, and who gets to tell history.