{"product_id":"the-poitiers-affair-a-harrowing-true-crime-story-9782378850593","title":"The Poitiers Affair: A Harrowing True Crime Story","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Elizabeth Blood\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: 3e Editions\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: 3e Editions\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: General\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was the end of May 1901. Reporters from all over\u003cb\u003e France\u003c\/b\u003e descended on the small city of Poitiers.\u003cbr\u003eAfter receiving an anonymous tip, police discovered \u003cb\u003ea 52-year-old woman, emaciated, completely naked\u003c\/b\u003e, making strange noises and uttering incomprehensible words and phrases, in a dark room with the window shutters nailed and locked shut, a room that happened to be in the very proper mansion of the widow of a former \u003cb\u003edean of the university\u003c\/b\u003e's prestigious Faculté des Lettres.\u003cbr\u003eThe woman was her daughter and was the sister of a former \u003cb\u003esubprefect\u003c\/b\u003e who lived just across the street.\u003cbr\u003eIt was an \u003cb\u003eunthinkable crime\u003c\/b\u003e: a woman \u003cb\u003eheld captive\u003c\/b\u003e in her home \u003cb\u003efor twenty-five years\u003c\/b\u003e. The scandal ripped through Poitiers and then all of France. It would dominate public discourse in the country until the trial was over.\u003cbr\u003eThis book is also about \u003cb\u003ea man and a woman and all that kept them apart\u003c\/b\u003e. One was Protestant, the other Catholic; one a liberal Républicain, the other from a conservative Royalist family; one with family ties to nobility, the other dedicated to helping the working man; one older and wiser, the other young and carefree. Everything was against them.\u003cbr\u003eDuring the 19th century, France was struggling to stabilize its government, pitting those yearning for a true republic against those wanting a return to the monarchy. \u003cb\u003eThis young couple was caught in the eye of the storm\u003c\/b\u003e, falling in love in spite of it all and suffering the consequences.\u003cbr\u003eTo understand what really happened, author Viviane Janouin-Benanti pored over the newspaper accounts of the scandal and read all of the court documents and witness testimonies.\u003cbr\u003eOver a century has passed, but remnants of the deep divisions that fed the public scandal surrounding this case are still present any time the Poitiers Affair is mentioned. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eWith a background in law, politics, and public health, Viviane Janouin-Benanti spent many years working with community outreach organizations in France.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eToday, she devotes her time exclusively to writing novels. Fascinated by true stories, her aim is to breathe life into her characters: real people who were the perpetrators and victims at the center of major criminal and historical cases.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTranslated by Elizabeth Blood","brand":"3e Editions","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45542792528023,"sku":"9782378850593","price":1147.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9782378850593.webp?v=1768593006","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/the-poitiers-affair-a-harrowing-true-crime-story-9782378850593","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}