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Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women
The untold stories of generations of Irish women who saw their American dream become a nightmare - and the trouble they got into as a result
'A captivating account of lives previously ignored' Sunday Independent
Ireland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was not a good place to be a woman. Among the wave of emigrants from Ireland to North America were many, many young women who travelled on their own, hoping for a better life. Some lived lives of quiet industry and piety. Others quickly found themselves in trouble - bad trouble, and on an astonishing scale.
Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, creators of the celebrated 'Bad Bridget' podcast, have unearthed a world in which Irish women actually outnumbered Irish men in prison, in which you could get locked up for 'stubbornness', and in which a serial killer called Lizzie Halliday was described by the New York Times as 'the worst woman on earth'. They reveal the social forces that bred this mayhem and dysfunction, through stories that are brilliantly strange, sometimes funny, and often moving. From sex workers and thieves to kidnappers and killers, these Bridgets are young women who have gone from the frying pan of their impoverished homeland to the fire of vast North American cities.
Bad Bridget is a masterpiece of social history and true crime, showing us a fascinating and previously unexplored world.
'A captivating account of lives previously ignored' Sunday Independent
Ireland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was not a good place to be a woman. Among the wave of emigrants from Ireland to North America were many, many young women who travelled on their own, hoping for a better life. Some lived lives of quiet industry and piety. Others quickly found themselves in trouble - bad trouble, and on an astonishing scale.
Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, creators of the celebrated 'Bad Bridget' podcast, have unearthed a world in which Irish women actually outnumbered Irish men in prison, in which you could get locked up for 'stubbornness', and in which a serial killer called Lizzie Halliday was described by the New York Times as 'the worst woman on earth'. They reveal the social forces that bred this mayhem and dysfunction, through stories that are brilliantly strange, sometimes funny, and often moving. From sex workers and thieves to kidnappers and killers, these Bridgets are young women who have gone from the frying pan of their impoverished homeland to the fire of vast North American cities.
Bad Bridget is a masterpiece of social history and true crime, showing us a fascinating and previously unexplored world.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 26, 2023
87 people are currently reading
834 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
April 2, 2025
A non fiction that follows the lives of Irish women who emigrated to North America and got into some trouble. A tremendous feat of research, the authors trawled through newspapers and court records to find out the stories of these Irish women who found themselves in trouble with the law due to alcoholism, murder, child neglect, prostitution etc. There were parts of this that were really fascinating and sad seeing how some of these women ended up living and you couldn’t help but wonder fue to the sheer amount of them as well, how different (bad and good) their lives would have been if they stayed in Ireland - would they still have led a life of crime if they stayed in a smaller, more insular environment? I didn’t love the format of every chapter and found you could lose track of the ‘main’ women we were following in each part as she’d get lost amongst a bunch of other names and data but still a fascinating read.
January 30, 2023
What an incredible book!!! Bad Bridget does an amazing job in taking many, sometimes clinical, sources of information and turning them into fascinating and thrilling stories of equally fascinating women. A true display of how important archives are, not to mention a wonderful display of teamwork across nations, oceans, and continents in order to write this amazing book.
Couldn’t recommend it more! Well done to Dr. Elaine Farrell and Dr. Leanne McCormick for putting together these amazing true stories. I particularly loved the use of statistical data and newspaper sources.
Couldn’t recommend it more! Well done to Dr. Elaine Farrell and Dr. Leanne McCormick for putting together these amazing true stories. I particularly loved the use of statistical data and newspaper sources.
September 22, 2025
I’m actually rejoicing because I thought I was only 67% through the book but didn’t account for the references at the end so it was an amazing surprise when it suddenly ended!
I’m not a huge fan of non-fiction generally but this was a book club pick. It has served to further reinforce that preference.
The premise was interesting enough but after a while of “this woman committed this crime in this year and this other woman committed a similar crime in another year”, I started skimming over the names and dates.
I’m not a huge fan of non-fiction generally but this was a book club pick. It has served to further reinforce that preference.
The premise was interesting enough but after a while of “this woman committed this crime in this year and this other woman committed a similar crime in another year”, I started skimming over the names and dates.
February 23, 2024
I had heard a lot of good things about this book, so was grateful to borrow it from a friend. Farrell and McCormick have carried out an incredible amount of research finding stories of Irish emigrant women in America who would have otherwise been lost to the history books, pushing against the stereotype of the pious or pure religious Irish woman or homemaker. They highlight various crimes that these women were accused of, involved in or were victims of. I found this fascinating, but it is a niche read and at times felt a bit "text-booky" with long lists of similar names and dates rather than longer stories. The standout chapters were the ones that instead decided to focus on only one or two historic cases and spend time telling the stories of those women, rather than attempting to capture a full history of a particular crime.
October 23, 2025
Rather than a book, this merely feels like a compilation of historical data, names and facts about the fates of Irish emigrant women in America in the 19th and early 20th century.
July 14, 2023
Really enjoyed this book! I picked it up at a bookshop in Dublin on a recent visit. I love picking up books that might not be in local bookshops!
I was expecting some bias, as it was written by Irish authors, making the women out to be 'victims' of emigration, but it wasn't. This book was so well researched, every quote was cited and about a fifth of the book was references to the articles and documents used.
It featured stories of tens of women, some quick paragraphs, some more longer stories. The authors used the information they had and did not add much of their own words to it. Some stories and circumstances were difficult to read by their nature, but the authors handled this well.
It's a book that is easy to pick up and read in shorter sessions if you want to. It's certainly not a 'cosy' read, but if you enjoy crime, this might be a good book to pick up. I don't generally read crime, but the nature of this made me pick it up. I recently enjoyed 'The Hungry Road' by Marita Conlon-McKenna, which features emigration and during my trip to Dublin you are surrounded by references to emigration, so it was a timely read for me :) You picture Irish women going to America and Canada and just settling down and while thousands did, there were a few who made major headlines with their antics!
I was expecting some bias, as it was written by Irish authors, making the women out to be 'victims' of emigration, but it wasn't. This book was so well researched, every quote was cited and about a fifth of the book was references to the articles and documents used.
It featured stories of tens of women, some quick paragraphs, some more longer stories. The authors used the information they had and did not add much of their own words to it. Some stories and circumstances were difficult to read by their nature, but the authors handled this well.
It's a book that is easy to pick up and read in shorter sessions if you want to. It's certainly not a 'cosy' read, but if you enjoy crime, this might be a good book to pick up. I don't generally read crime, but the nature of this made me pick it up. I recently enjoyed 'The Hungry Road' by Marita Conlon-McKenna, which features emigration and during my trip to Dublin you are surrounded by references to emigration, so it was a timely read for me :) You picture Irish women going to America and Canada and just settling down and while thousands did, there were a few who made major headlines with their antics!
March 14, 2023
Super interesting - and at times, comical - look into Irish women in America behaving badly. Nothing too deep explored, but was a pretty easy and fun glance into the past.
June 3, 2025
Enjoyed this interesting non fiction account of ‘Bad’ Irish Emigrants in History. Throughly researched and written in away that keeps you reading!
Overall, I appreciate how all of these women were viewed with a revisionist and empathetic lense.
Overall, I appreciate how all of these women were viewed with a revisionist and empathetic lense.
November 17, 2024
3.5⭐️
Incredibly well researched! The chapters focusing on one or a handful of women were compelling, but some of the others felt textbook-y the way they listed so many names + dates, etc.
Incredibly well researched! The chapters focusing on one or a handful of women were compelling, but some of the others felt textbook-y the way they listed so many names + dates, etc.
July 23, 2024
This book was thoroughly researched by two women for universities in Northern Ireland. They focused on Toronto, Boston, and New York state. These choices were made based on the density of Irish immigrant populations in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
This is a sociological study that is written with a reader-friendly approach. The statistics provided are nothing short of hair-raising. The numbers of females arrested in the jurisdictions included were overwhelmingly Irish. This does not mean that Irish were not predisposed to be criminals, but were due to a number of factors which are described.
In the 19th century, virtually the only female immigrants - girls and women- arriving alone, were Irish. US law prohibited the importation of enslaved people after 1808. These people included, of course, many females. Irish Catholic immigration began in earnest after this. There were quite a few Protestant Irish immigrant before this time. Many settled in the Appalachians and Canada. In this book, many of the Protestant women were from Toronto, and some from New York. However, the majority of the cases described were Catholic women. They were often sent to America by their desperately poor families who depended on them to send money home. Some young women left when they found they were pregnant, expecting that America would be somewhat "easier" on them than Ireland. Some left hoping for a better life, and often had relatives to help them in America.
Reality was often different than expected. Either they lost the addresses of American relative or they never showed up to meet them. Pregnant women had little hope of being hired and had to fend for themselves on the streets. There were no public institutions to help at that time, and private institutions often denied unmarried women with children any assistance. Some of these women, and their children died on the street.
Women were arrested most often for streetwalking (also known as stargazing) and/or public drunkeness. It is worth noting that men were not arrested for either vagrancy nor public drunkeness (for the most part) which led to the comparable larger number of women who were jailed. Many women were jailed repeatedly in a short time period. Although Irish women were favored by those looking for domestic servants, employers had high standards for those in their employee.
There are cases of s few women who murdered. They seemed to lack a conscience and their cases were quite egregious. These cases were closely followed by the press, especially tabloids.
There is a Bad Bridget podcast available and it is well worth listening to. Thee are 5 short episodes which will whet your appetite for the book.
This is a sociological study that is written with a reader-friendly approach. The statistics provided are nothing short of hair-raising. The numbers of females arrested in the jurisdictions included were overwhelmingly Irish. This does not mean that Irish were not predisposed to be criminals, but were due to a number of factors which are described.
In the 19th century, virtually the only female immigrants - girls and women- arriving alone, were Irish. US law prohibited the importation of enslaved people after 1808. These people included, of course, many females. Irish Catholic immigration began in earnest after this. There were quite a few Protestant Irish immigrant before this time. Many settled in the Appalachians and Canada. In this book, many of the Protestant women were from Toronto, and some from New York. However, the majority of the cases described were Catholic women. They were often sent to America by their desperately poor families who depended on them to send money home. Some young women left when they found they were pregnant, expecting that America would be somewhat "easier" on them than Ireland. Some left hoping for a better life, and often had relatives to help them in America.
Reality was often different than expected. Either they lost the addresses of American relative or they never showed up to meet them. Pregnant women had little hope of being hired and had to fend for themselves on the streets. There were no public institutions to help at that time, and private institutions often denied unmarried women with children any assistance. Some of these women, and their children died on the street.
Women were arrested most often for streetwalking (also known as stargazing) and/or public drunkeness. It is worth noting that men were not arrested for either vagrancy nor public drunkeness (for the most part) which led to the comparable larger number of women who were jailed. Many women were jailed repeatedly in a short time period. Although Irish women were favored by those looking for domestic servants, employers had high standards for those in their employee.
There are cases of s few women who murdered. They seemed to lack a conscience and their cases were quite egregious. These cases were closely followed by the press, especially tabloids.
There is a Bad Bridget podcast available and it is well worth listening to. Thee are 5 short episodes which will whet your appetite for the book.
July 21, 2023
A wonderful introduction to a lesser investigated part of Irish diasporic history. Both shocking and fascinating, the only criticism I have of this book is simply that there isn't more of it.
April 28, 2023
The Irish in America have a reputation – you only have to look at the recent SNL sketch to see that reputation is alive and well - and after reading this book you can see why.
Started as a podcast, Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick bring their Bad Bridget stories to the page in this heavily researched (over fifty pages of references) and candid review of wayward Irish women in America.
From alcoholism, sex work, vagrancy, theft, kidnapping, infanticide, and murder, the picture of Irish women is not a good one. A picture where Irish women outnumbered Irish men in jail. A picture where Irish women are unrepentant repeat offenders. A picture in deep opposition to reality of Irish women at home.
What is not explicitly stated - although it is there in the subtext - is that a lot of the crimes committed here are crimes of poverty related to the lack of support and destitution the women found themselves in. Often leaving Ireland in the grip of the famine or the decades following, deserted or abused by husbands, left to raise ever increasing number of children with no hope of help or respite.
These were not criminal masterminds. They were often forced to do whatever they could to survive. In most of the case studies I found myself despairing at how easily these women fell into harm's way. The story of Rosie Quinn and her child in particular broke my heart.
A mix of social commentary, true crime and historical research, Bad Bridget is one to dip into for those wanting to learn more about the history of Irish abroad.
Started as a podcast, Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick bring their Bad Bridget stories to the page in this heavily researched (over fifty pages of references) and candid review of wayward Irish women in America.
From alcoholism, sex work, vagrancy, theft, kidnapping, infanticide, and murder, the picture of Irish women is not a good one. A picture where Irish women outnumbered Irish men in jail. A picture where Irish women are unrepentant repeat offenders. A picture in deep opposition to reality of Irish women at home.
What is not explicitly stated - although it is there in the subtext - is that a lot of the crimes committed here are crimes of poverty related to the lack of support and destitution the women found themselves in. Often leaving Ireland in the grip of the famine or the decades following, deserted or abused by husbands, left to raise ever increasing number of children with no hope of help or respite.
These were not criminal masterminds. They were often forced to do whatever they could to survive. In most of the case studies I found myself despairing at how easily these women fell into harm's way. The story of Rosie Quinn and her child in particular broke my heart.
A mix of social commentary, true crime and historical research, Bad Bridget is one to dip into for those wanting to learn more about the history of Irish abroad.
January 8, 2025
I was delighted to get this book as it’s right up my street – true crime and social history, but I have to confess that I found it a bit dull after about a quarter way through. It is well written and well researched, it was just that so many of the stories were very similar, and ultimately sad and depressing; poverty, prostitution, thieving, leaving kidnapping and murder till the end like a grand finale. None of the characters really stick with me after reading which makes me feel callous, or maybe the factual matter of fact style of delivery did not flesh them out enough. This is not a criticism, as these are academic writers, but if I compare this book to ‘The Missing’ by Andrew O Hagen, another factual book, this time written by a journalist and novelist there is no comparison - It could be in the language, or setting the scene geographically, socially and culturally which made AOH stories more compelling. That said, some eye popping facts are revealed in the book – the fact that you could be jailed for ‘stubbornness’ and the disparity in sentencing was so random, getting a few weeks for drunkenness, a couple of years for man slaughter and more lenient sentences for murder than today. Also the shocking statistics of almost 70% of the prison population in some cities in American being Irish and more women being incarcerated than men – Also some poor unsuspecting girls off the boat being lured into white slavery
May 18, 2023
A fantastic book by Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick! I would definitely recommend this book if you want to learn more about the crimes of Irish Emigrant women throughout the US and Canada. This book is excellent from start to finish, the amount of detail and research that went into it is brilliant! I also loved that this book although historical and full of facts it doesn't read like an overly academic work and appeals to the public. Although I am a historian and love academic books, I also love when historians write books that appeal to the general public and get recommended everywhere! So often history books don't gain the recognition they deserve but I am glad to see a lot of fellow bookstagramers recommending this book and also it being including in some of the book festivals.
Bad Bridget is based on the crimes of Irish emigrant women throughout the US and Canada. It tells the story of these women, their crimes, the circumstances that led to these crimes and so much more. Each chapter focuses on a different theme including prostitution, unmarried mothers, child neglect, infanticide, alcoholism, kidnapping, theft, crimes of matrimony, and murder. They reveal the social forces that bred this mayhem through stories that are strange, sometimes funny and often moving. Definitely a fascinating read that explored the social history and true crime of the time.
Also their podcast, Bad Bridget is brilliant so I would also definitely recommend giving that a listen.
Bad Bridget is based on the crimes of Irish emigrant women throughout the US and Canada. It tells the story of these women, their crimes, the circumstances that led to these crimes and so much more. Each chapter focuses on a different theme including prostitution, unmarried mothers, child neglect, infanticide, alcoholism, kidnapping, theft, crimes of matrimony, and murder. They reveal the social forces that bred this mayhem through stories that are strange, sometimes funny and often moving. Definitely a fascinating read that explored the social history and true crime of the time.
Also their podcast, Bad Bridget is brilliant so I would also definitely recommend giving that a listen.
April 11, 2023
A really interesting read! I had no idea that Irish women made up such a high proportion of New York, Boston and Toronto’s incarcerated populations in the 19th and early 20th centuries, not to mention the breadth of crimes of which they were convicted.
This book contains some great analysis of the social and individual forces that sometimes motivated these crimes, from poverty and mistreatment to material gain and revenge.
As fascinating as all the facts and figures were, it did make the flow feel a little rigid and ever so slightly lacking in the narrative flair which would make these women’s stories come to life a little bit more (Fin Dwyer often does an excellent job with this particular challenge on the Irish History Podcast!).
With that said, I fully appreciate the limitations of these stories where so little information is often available and the limitations of the written word as a medium for conveying this information that probably best lends itself to a more conversational format, so now that I’m properly initiated into the topic, I’m really looking forward to listening to Farrell and McCormick’s podcast of the same name!
This book contains some great analysis of the social and individual forces that sometimes motivated these crimes, from poverty and mistreatment to material gain and revenge.
As fascinating as all the facts and figures were, it did make the flow feel a little rigid and ever so slightly lacking in the narrative flair which would make these women’s stories come to life a little bit more (Fin Dwyer often does an excellent job with this particular challenge on the Irish History Podcast!).
With that said, I fully appreciate the limitations of these stories where so little information is often available and the limitations of the written word as a medium for conveying this information that probably best lends itself to a more conversational format, so now that I’m properly initiated into the topic, I’m really looking forward to listening to Farrell and McCormick’s podcast of the same name!
October 22, 2023
4.5 stars. This is the kind of book where you can read it a chapter at a time - there is no overall narrative - and I was always excited to pick this book up and see what kinds of mischief these Bridgets were getting into during a really fascinating period of history. The most interesting chapter to me was the one about immigrant Irish women getting arrested for drunkenness, because it showed how society's view of alcohol use (and alcoholism) has changed over time. Like it was so incomprehensible to some of the well-meaning aid societies why an immigrant woman in an abusive relationship living in squalor with more kids than she could handle would want to have a drink from time to time to forget reality! And instead of understanding it as a cry for help, it was sometimes interpreted as "well, these Irish women are just like that" and they sent them to jail! Most of these chapters were like that clip from Parks & Rec with Fred Armisen saying repeatedly, "JAIL. Straight to jail" for almost any small offense. And honestly sometimes I wondered if jail (as bad as it must have been!) wasn't just a little bit of a treat for some of these women, some of the time.
December 18, 2025
Seems more and more the trend that historians and journalists involved with podcasts and the like have ten times more integrity and academic rigor in their work than the legacy folks from the publishing houses and established newspapers. Also these (often much more academically credentialed) individuals tend to be working on a focused passion project like this and have already disseminated the information in a variety of ways - podcasts, conferences, etc. The book is just a nice final touch, and I think this is the case here.
I found the demographic profiles in the earlier chapters to be much more interesting than the true crime "cases" that dominated the second half of the book, but I recognize I'm in the minority there and everything is properly sourced and never sensationalized. Speculation is always listed with a disclaimer. I do feel critical analysis of the wider forces which led these women to crime was sometimes there and sometimes a bit lacking or not expanded upon properly. Said analysis could probably comfortably add another 50-70 pages without boring the reader.
I found the demographic profiles in the earlier chapters to be much more interesting than the true crime "cases" that dominated the second half of the book, but I recognize I'm in the minority there and everything is properly sourced and never sensationalized. Speculation is always listed with a disclaimer. I do feel critical analysis of the wider forces which led these women to crime was sometimes there and sometimes a bit lacking or not expanded upon properly. Said analysis could probably comfortably add another 50-70 pages without boring the reader.
March 25, 2024
A great book for Irish history lovers, especially those who are sick of the lack of Irish women's history in the mainstream. This book tackles a great subject - Irish women emigrants and their 'deviances' abroad - and it's clear that significant time and energy has been spent on research and collating information. The increase in Irish history through a global perspective is a welcome one and given the bias towards men abroad, it's interesting to see how some women fared in their adopted homes, especially given the fact women emigrated in far higher numbers than men. Despite there being two authors the voice was clear and consistent and this was easy to read, with some photos of the women included as a nice visual aid.
January 3, 2025
3,5
Faktabok om kvinnor från Irland som emigrerade runt sekelskiftet och var ”bad”. Intressant att se sekelskiftets usa/canada ur den vinklingen. Värdefull kapitelindelning baserat på ”brotten” (mot samhällets normer) innefattande bl. a. prostitution, ogift mödraskap, rebeller, fyllisar, ficktjuvar och mord.
Ibland dock lite för skolboksaktig plus saknade kanske lite djup. Sen tyckte jag att det i vissa fall var lite svår att följa för man hoppade i vissa kapitel mellan olika personer för att sen återkomma till samma igen och även om jag fattar greppet kund det ibland bli lite rörigt.
Faktabok om kvinnor från Irland som emigrerade runt sekelskiftet och var ”bad”. Intressant att se sekelskiftets usa/canada ur den vinklingen. Värdefull kapitelindelning baserat på ”brotten” (mot samhällets normer) innefattande bl. a. prostitution, ogift mödraskap, rebeller, fyllisar, ficktjuvar och mord.
Ibland dock lite för skolboksaktig plus saknade kanske lite djup. Sen tyckte jag att det i vissa fall var lite svår att följa för man hoppade i vissa kapitel mellan olika personer för att sen återkomma till samma igen och även om jag fattar greppet kund det ibland bli lite rörigt.
June 1, 2023
A fun history read (with citations!) about the criminal lives of immigrant women who were often stuck between economic necessity and the inability to earn a good living as a women in the Industrial Revolution. Lots of fascinating info, some seriously brazen chicks, and plenty of sad too, including the rash of child murders among highly impoverished women who chose death for their kids over the poor house. Really enjoyed my Ireland themed book during the trip.
February 19, 2024
This book really expanded my view on the struggles of Irish women coming to North America. I particularly learned from the chapters on prostitution, unmarried women, and child neglect. However, the writing felt a little chaotic to me. While I appreciate the authors using many examples to prove their points, it felt hard to keep track of all the women.
May 21, 2024
Very clearly well researched, an impressive project by both Farrell & McCormick but felt it could have had a stronger overarching narrative throughout. At points it felt like a long list of cases. An interesting insight into the lives of Irish women nonetheless:)
December 8, 2024
Good when dealing with actual cases otherwise got bogged down in dates and stats. Would have been better if concentrated on individual stories and stuck with them instead of inserting data which was confusing and disjointed reading
September 4, 2025
This was such an easy book to sink into. What I loved most were the voices of the women at the heart of it and that was through the good writing of the authors. If you love a bit if history, some strong female stories and escapism, this is recommended.
April 8, 2023
Intense read. I had no idea that so many Irish emigrant women were so criminalised. Just goes to show that it’s the economics of a situation that demonise a whole race of people
May 2, 2023
Interesting for research, but def not a page turner. I’d recommend the podcast instead.
May 23, 2023
3.5 ⭐
June 20, 2023
Well researched although only started to flow in the later chapters. All was not streets paved with gold ! An eye opener of the Irish immigrant women !
August 26, 2023
3.5 ⭐️
Very interesting read, enjoyed the way the crimes of these women are interwoven with discussion of attitudes of the times.
Very interesting read, enjoyed the way the crimes of these women are interwoven with discussion of attitudes of the times.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews