cover image A Brutal Chill in August

A Brutal Chill in August

Alan M. Clark. Word Horde, $15.99 trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-939905-25-3

Clark (Say Anything but Your Prayers) continues his series of portraits of Jack the Ripper’s victims with the life of Polly Nichols, believed to be Jack’s first victim. In 1858 London, Polly is 13 and living with her father and brother, doing piecework to bring in extra money. She discovers gin, forming a lingering addiction. In 1863, she meets printer machinist Bill Nichols, who courts her by taking her out to nice dinners and shows, and when he asks her to marry him, she’s thrilled. However, Bill shortly sheds the charm, and the one-room flat they live in is dreary. Bill is increasingly cold and abusive, and Polly has five children in quick succession. She finds comfort in a man named Tom Dews, who unfortunately shares her addiction, thus beginning a tragic spiral. Clark takes known facts about Nichols and fills in the blanks, highlighting the grim existence of a woman without means in Victorian London. Her murder in 1888 at the hands of the Ripper is only the final punctuation to a fraught, largely lonely life. (Sept.)