The Cruel Mother: A Memoir

by Siân Busby

In 1919 Sian Busby's great-grandmother gave birth to triplets. One of the babies died at birth, and eleven days later she drowned the surviving twins in a bath of cold water. She was sentenced to an indefinite term in a prison for the criminally insane. For generations to come, the author's family dealt with the murders and the accompanying shame, guilt, and anxiety by suppressing the disturbing memory. It wasn't until Busby began to experience severe bouts of postpartum depression herself that she felt compelled to learn more about this shadowy story, ultimately immersing herself in the puzzling and horrific tragedy that had quietly shaped her family's collective history. In Cruel Mother, Busby digs out her own postpartum depression, by re-creating not only the broader reality of post-WWI working class England, but the more intimate setting in which her great-grandmother tried to raise a family. In the process, Busby brings ghosts to very real and familiar life, making these unexpected and inexplicable deaths that much more tragic. Ultimately, Busby and the reader are left not only with new understanding, but heartfelt empathy for all involved.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir

299 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Siân Elizabeth Busby (19 November 1960 – 4 September 2012) was a British writer.
The daughter of the Canadian actor Tom Busby and Wendy Russell, she was educated at Creighton School in Muswell Hill and read English at Sussex University.
Originally embarking in a career in arts television, she later switched to writing. Her first two books were non-fiction. A Wonderful Little Girl (2003) concerned a Welsh child whose apparent ability to survive without nourishment led doctors to term the condition anorexia while The Cruel Mother (2004) was a semi-autobiographical account of child murder by one of Busby's ancestors. McNaughten (2009) concerned a mentally unstable 19th century woodcutter who was accused of attempting to assassinate Sir Robert Peel. Daniel M'Naghten, a genuine historical figure, had instead shot and fatally injured Edward Drummond, Peel's private secretary. Significant in case law, the M'Naghten rules resulted from his acquittal at the subsequent trial.on the grounds of insanity. Another book Who Was Boudicca, Warror Queen (2006) was written for children.
Busby was diagnosed as suffering from lung cancer in 2007.[4]She had finished her last book, a novel A Commonplace Killing, shortly before she died from the disease. The book, describing the investigation into the murder of a woman in post-war London, was published in May 2013 and featured as BBC Radio Four's Book at Bedtime in June of the same year. Busby was married to Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, with whom she had a son. Peston and Busby had known each other since their teens, and only rekindled their relationship after her friend, Peston's sister Juliet, was hospitalised after a road accident.[6] In the meantime, Busby had married and been divorced from the Dutch film maker Kees Ryninks, with whom she had a son.

Reviews

[Virginia Appleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morbidly interesting and thoroughly depressing as you'd expect, given the subject matter. Well written but had a tendency to 'jump' erratically (I found) from subject /era.

[Annie Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book initially grabbed my attention because an almost identical situation had occurred in the family of close family friends when I was a child and it was something I'd never forgotten. In our case the children were twins and only one was drowned but the similarities are close in any case. The book is absolutely gripping and I found myself barely able to put it down once I'd started. Even the necessary historical facts and statistics make for interesting reading. I was sorry to learn that the author, Sian Busby had died several years ago of cancer at the relatively young age of 51.

[Chana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's great-grandmother, while ill with post-partum pyschosis and grieving the death of her four year old daughter the year previous, drowns her new-born daughters. While the subject is unutterably sad, the author does a fine job of researching the history, and the psychological and social forces that may have led to this tragedy. It is a compassionate and educational look at not only the time and place in which this event occurred, but at infanticide in general.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the early years of the 20th century one of the author's ancestors was found guilty of infanticide. This is an exploration of the 'crime,' in the context of the legal, medical and social framework of the period. The traumatic birth of triplets, with only two surviving, had clearly left their mother suffering from serious post-natal depression that led to a psychotic interlude during which the surviving babies were drowned. This would not now be treated a crime since modern law excludes acts of this nature carried out by a mother soon after giving birth and even in the early 20th century it was treated very sympathetically. However, she was charged and sent to trial, found guilty and sentenced to a period in prison. The court and the prison appear to have treated her kindly, and her family and community been supportive. It is a deeply sad story and the author researched it very thoroughly - maybe to thoroughly since the book is fairly academic in its approach. Sian Busby went on to write a number of well-received novels before her early death.

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sad book which details in depth the facts surrounding the death of Beth's surviving twin daughters who she drowned. Beth already had 3 sons, her only daughter had died the year before and this terrible event appeared to come out of the blue.

This book is a good read, there is a lot of social history within the story including that of lace workers, horse traders, the effects of World War I as well as the fate of those mothers who killed their babies.

Sian Busby is Beth's Great Grandaughter and much of the story has been meticulously researched since although some of the stories had been handed down the generations, Sian's Grandfather refused to talk about Beth the shame and guilt still imprinted upon the family. An interesting but very sad story.

[Maura Heaphy Dutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad, but very interesting account, of a great tragedy in the family history of the author: in 1919, Busby's great-grandmother drowned her twin newborn daughters while in the grip of what was probably postpartum psychosis. Busby uses the story of Beth Wood and her family's tragedy as the launching point for a memoir/family history/social history which examines pressures in the lives of mothers from the mid-19th century to today.

This is a flawed book, but it's very worthwhile, and on the whole very readable. (I feel almost as if it's unfair to overemphasize negative feedback, as the author herself died in 2012 -- and she's in no position to respond!) The narrative suffers from poor organization, skipping around too much in time -- moving almost at random from Beth Wood, to her grandparents and parents, to the subsequent effect that the tragedy had on Woods' son Reg (a teenager, on the brink of adulthood when his two baby sisters died), and even to Busby's own experience of a difficult childbirth. I used the clumsy label "memoir/family history/social history" deliberately, as I felt that she might have been trying to accomplish too much, and occasionally lost sight of what a reader might find important and interesting in her great-grandmother's sad story. (I think the truly talented memoirist/historian learns what to leave out ...)

However, the material is fascinating, and the research that Busby did-- both personal history, family history, and social, historical research -- was intensive: by sharing the sad story of her great-grandmother, Busby brings alive an account of pressures on women, and women who become mothers.

[Sian Witch reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book and found d it very interesting it isn't a page turner though as the author jumps from subject to subject and mentions alot of names so it can be hard to keep a mental note of who's who , I would still recommend though

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficult book to read in terms of its subject matter—but a compelling story that works to lift the taboo about discussing postpartum mental illness and infanticide. True account written by a great-granddaughter.

[Lorraine Marshall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Far too much unnecessary information.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and well written.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book although a harrowing history was very readable. The writing had me in mind of Kate Summerscale.
The essence of the book was to give the family some peace concerning an event that occurred centuries before and I think it would have given the family a peace.
The story leaves you with an intense sense of sadness but only of the lack of psychiatric assistance in the time of the event.
So well researched and referenced.
I will definitely look to read the other books by this lady.

[Stefanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Older, British. But still relevant. A interesting dive into the past and notions about women's health. It is a reminder that poor women have always worked, even if they were married.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

story is from area where I live so could imagine where the people lived & what the area looked like. some parts of explaining did carry on bit to much so skimmed over good few pages.

[Kelsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. The history, the research, the author. It’s a tough topic (infanticide) but so important when it comes to understanding perinatal mental health.

[Adam]

I have A 25 page rule if I don't get into a book by then I put it down and i'm afraid to say I had to put it down, I also read half a page three quartes of the way through and it was a wedding so because i am not interested in this womans wedding I put it down, If this book was simply about the murders and was cut down to 100-150 pages I would of have finished it, so I am afraid to say it has to go in my could not finish pile.

I will not rate this book as I feel it would be unfair, if I brought in in a bookstore I would of found out this book is not for me, one of the annoying things with buying online.

[Rosalind · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting, but rather a lot was made of a single tragic event and I didn't think it necessary, for example, to speculate on methods of contraception in the early 20th century and whether or not the protagonists availed themselves of them. It was also quite repetitive (eg too many references to the 1922 infanticide act). Despite this, it was an engaging read and the author's personal journey to unravel the truth from this deep family wound came across with real passion. I'm glad I read it.

[Alison]

a memoir about gt grand mother of author. see summaries. but also exploration of the practices of the times 're family life, childbirth, contraception, and the understanding of post partum depression and psychosis . and the affect that all might have on future generations - even tho the story was not really known or understood, would the ghost of it haunt later mother's in the family. well written with nice personal intersections in the middle of,a well researched piece.

[Kayleigh Holloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual reflection of a family history.

[Sue Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sad book- well written.