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Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis Audiobook
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"Alice + Freda Forever is a gut-wrenching story of love, death, and the dangers of intolerance."--Bustle In 1892, America was obsessed with a teenage murderess, but it wasn't her crime that shocked the nation--it was her motivation. Nineteen-year-old Alice Mitchell had planned to pass as a man in order to marry her seventeen-year-old fiancée Freda Ward, but when their love letters were discovered, they were forbidden from ever speaking again. Freda adjusted to this fate with an ease that stunned a heartbroken Alice. Her desperation grew with each unanswered letter--and her father's razor soon went missing. On January 25, Alice publicly slashed her ex-fiancée's throat. Her same-sex love was deemed insane by her father that very night, and medical experts agreed: This was a dangerous and incurable perversion. As the courtroom was expanded to accommodate national interest, Alice spent months in jail--including the night that three of her fellow prisoners were lynched (an event which captured the attention of journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells). After a jury of "the finest men in Memphis" declared Alice insane, she was remanded to an asylum, where she died under mysterious circumstances just a few years later.
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“This true-crime drama uses primary-source documents of letters and transcripts from the trial to provide a rich, detailed description…This is a captivating account, and readers will quickly become absorbed in the suspense.”
— School Library Journal (starred review)
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“Alexis Coe came across the case in a scholarly article while she was in graduate school and became fascinated by Mitchell and Ward’s story. She retells it here with the color and liveliness of a novel.”
— New Yorker magazine -
“Supported by Sophie Amoss’ captivating narration, this audiobook creates a sense of intimacy its two central figures and give extra dimension to the social context behind their affair.”
— Paste magazine (audio review) -
“A historically resonant reminder of how far societal tolerance has come and that it still remains a work in progress.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Highly recommended as an insightful exploration of an important historical true crime and a solid introduction to narrative nonfiction.”
— Library Journal
Awards
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An Independent Book Publishers Award Gold Medal Winner in Gay & Lesbian Nonfiction
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Finalist for the Cybils Award for Young Adult Nonfiction
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A Paste Magazine Pick of Best Audiobooks of the Month
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About Alexis Coe
Alexis Coe is the award-winning author of Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis (soon to be a major motion picture). Coe has frequently appeared on CNN and the History Channel, and has contributed to The New York Times, The New Yorker, and many other publications. She is a host of Audible’s Presidents Are People Too! and No Man’s Land. Coe holds a graduate degree in American history and was a research curator at the New York Public Library.