I Let Him Go: The heartbreaking book from the mother of James Bulger

I Let Him Go: The heartbreaking book from the mother of James Bulger
Author: Denise Fergus
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Ltd.
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2018-01-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1911600141

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, with an updated chapter from Denise. 'I was crying so much I couldn't breathe. The thought of leaving the shopping centre without him was crushing. I knew that walking away from the place where he had gone missing, without any idea where he now was, meant that things were really bad. James had been right by my side and then he was gone forever.' On 12th February 1993, Denise Fergus' life changed forever. As she was running errands at New Strand Shopping Centre, she let go of her two-year-old son's hand for a few seconds to take out her purse. Denise never saw her son again. For the first time since that moment 25 years ago, Denise tells her extraordinary story in this heart-wrenching book, an unflinching account of that terrible day. What if she had never taken James shopping? What if she had turned right coming out of the butcher's, instead of left? Denise's initial hope after seeing her son on CCTV with other children quickly turned to devastation when, two days later, James' body was found. His death reverberated around the world and his killers became the youngest ever convicted murderers in UK legal history. Four minutes is all it took for them to lead James away from his mother to his death. Denise took up a tortuous legal battle for James, and it was her astonishing strength and love for her son that ultimately helped to change the way the law treats victims of crime. This is a mother's tale, of finding a way through the despair to remember the happiness and wonderful memories that James brought his family. Above all, Denise doesn't want her son to be remembered as a murdered child, and with this beautifully written book, she does just that.

My James

My James
Author: Ralph Bulger
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2013-02-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0283071680

On 12 February 1993, three year old James Bulger wandered away from his mum Denise in a shopping mall in Bootle. Grainy images from a security camera showed him trustingly holding the hand of ten year old Jon Venables as they walked away. Venables and Robert Thompson murdered James. In this book, James' father describes how his world fell apart.

The Sleep of Reason

The Sleep of Reason
Author: David James Smith
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2017-10-31
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0571340571

Friday, 12th February, 1993. Two outwardly unremarkable ten-year-old boys began the day by playing truant and ended it running an errand for the local video shop. In between they abducted and killed a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. In search of an explanation, award-winning journalist David James Smith looks behind the misinformation, misunderstanding and sensational reporting to an exact account of the events of that day. A sensitive and definitive account, The Sleep of Reason achieves a unique understanding of the James Bulger case, and comes as close as may ever be possible to explaining how two ten-year-olds could kill.

Stay With Me, Rhys

Stay With Me, Rhys
Author: Melanie Jones
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2018-04-19
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0753552302

‘Stay with me, Rhys,’ I kept saying over and over again. ‘Please stay with me. I love you.’ There was still no expression in his eyes. I was talking and talking to him, desperate to let him know I was there, but there was no flicker in his face. In hindsight, it was like he’d already gone. It's a Wednesday evening in Liverpool in the summer holidays, and Melanie is expecting her Everton-mad eleven-year-old son back from football practice very soon. She turns on Coronation Street and sets about stripping the wallpaper off the walls in the lounge, which is long-overdue a makeover. Suddenly she receives a frantic knock at the door. Rhys has been shot on his way home. From that fateful day when Melanie cradled her child as he lay dying, repeating to him ‘Stay with Me, Rhys’, to the day in court when his killers were finally sent down, this is a story of a family in trauma, of a community united behind them and of how a notorious local gang who terrorised the neighbourhood was brought to justice. In 2017, more than 7 million people watched the drama unfold in the highly-acclaimed ITV series Little Boy Blue. And now Melanie Jones tells the family's unbelievable story for the first time. Melanie, her husband Steve and Rhys’s brother Owen have been through unimaginable pain. The grief doesn’t go away, but the strength they’ve found within it is an inspiration.

Goodbye, Dearest Holly

Goodbye, Dearest Holly
Author: Kevin Wells
Publisher: Psychology News Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2005
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9780907633020

Some tragedies become part of our national history. On August 4, 2002 Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman went missing in Soham. The police searched, the girls' families searched, the local community searched, Kevin Wells, Holly's father, became a familiar figure on TV as he prayed for good news - the good news that never came. After 13 days, the bodies of Holly and Jessica were found. Within 48 hours, Ian Huntley was charged with their murder. There is nothing more dreadful than losing a child. Kevin had no idea what had happened to the daughter he loved and had such high hopes for in the terrible days after Holly went missing, Kevin found himself overwhelmed with emotion. He cried and was often embarrassed to cry. He faced situations he never imagined in his worst nightmares. Under stress, he feared he might forget important details of the worst days of his life. So he started to make notes. He didn't think of it as being therapeutic. At first his wife Nicola didn't see the point but she soon changed her mind. Kevin's diary couldn't alter anything but it did feel as if their lives were a little less out of their control. Huntley and Maxine Carr was over.

Sleep, My Child, Forever

Sleep, My Child, Forever
Author: John Coston
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2016-10-18
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1504041305

The dark double life of Ellen Boehm, the mother who murdered her two sons—and nearly killed her daughter. Ellen Boehm, a single mom from St. Louis, Missouri, appeared devoted to her children. But in reality, she was unequipped for motherhood, financially strapped, and desperate. Within a year of each other, her sons, ages two and four, died mysteriously, and Boehm’s eight-year-old daughter then suffered a near-fatal mishap when a hair dryer fell into the girl’s bath. While neighbors wondered how Boehm remained so calm through it all, Det. Sgt. Joseph Burgoon of St. Louis Homicide had darker suspicions. Burgoon soon unraveled a labyrinth of deception, greed, and obsession that revealed a cold-blooded killer whose get-rich-quick scheme came at the cost of her children’s lives. Boehm had taken out insurance policies on her children with six different companies totaling nearly $100,000. Using police reports, case documents, and photos, journalist John Coston recreates the events that led to one mother’s unspeakable acts of filicide—and a cop’s relentless pursuit of the truth.

All Souls

All Souls
Author: Michael Patrick MacDonald
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2024-08-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0807020532

“All Souls is the written equivalent of an Irish wake, where revelers dance and sing the dead person’s praises. In that same style, the book leavens tragedy with dashes of humor but preserves the heartbreaking details.”—The New York Times Book Review A 25th anniversary edition of the National Bestselling memoir, with a new afterword from Michael Patrick MacDonald, takes us deep into the South Boston housing projects during one of the city's most tumultuous times in history and tells the story of his family struggling the overcome the poverty, crime, addiction, and incarceration that overtook the neighborhood. A breakaway bestseller since its first printing, All Souls takes us deep into Michael Patrick MacDonald’s Southie, the proudly insular neighborhood with the highest concentration of white poverty in America. Rocked by Whitey Bulger’s crime schemes and busing riots, MacDonald’s Southie is populated by sharply hewn characters. We meet Ma, Michael’s mini-skirted, accordian-playing, single mother who endures the deaths of four of her eleven children. And there are Michael’s older siblings Davey, sweet artist-dreamer; Kevin, child genius of scam; and Frankie, Golden Gloves boxer and neighborhood hero whose lives are high-wire acts played out in a world of poverty and pride. Nearly suffocated by his grief and his community’s code of silence, MacDonald tells his family story here with gritty but moving honesty. All Souls is heartbreaking testimony to lives lost too early, and the story of how a place so filled with pain could still be “the best place in the world.”

A Beautiful Child

A Beautiful Child
Author: Matt Birkbeck
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2005-08-02
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 144062366X

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY GIRL IN THE PICTURE Sharon Marshall was a brilliant and beautiful student whose future was filled with promise—until her murderous, fugitive father drew her into a lifetime of deception that became one of the most baffling cases in the annals of American true crime. A student at Forest Park High School near Atlanta, Georgia, popular blonde-haired Sharon Marshall was at the top of her class. Serving as a Lt. Colonel in the ROTC, she earned a full scholarship to Georgia Tech University to study aerospace engineering. She was the ultimate girl next door, sweet, generous, and well-adjusted. But Sharon had disturbing secrets so shocking and unique, they took more than a decade to unravel... This is the horrifying true story of a mysterious young woman caught in the violent web of the murderous fugitive she called her father—and a heartrending testament to the profound courage and perseverance of one woman trapped in the grip of extreme evil.

Beyond Evil - Inside the Twisted Mind of Ian Huntley

Beyond Evil - Inside the Twisted Mind of Ian Huntley
Author: Nathan Yates
Publisher: Kings Road Publishing
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2015-10-18
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1782191534

The horrific murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman shocked and sickened the nation. The man found guilty of their murders is now one of the most reviled men in the country. As if his crime was not dreadful enough, he has recently admitted that he lied under oath about the circumstances of one of the murders. This in-depth book is written by investigative journalist Nathan Yates, who witnessed the murder hunt first-hand and even interviewed Huntley and former girlfriend Maxine Carr. Yates also has an exclusive source for contact with Ian Huntley and will have further revelations about how far Huntley has lied about what happened that tragic day.