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Jeannie’s Demise
August 1, 1875, Toronto: The naked body of a young woman is discovered in a pine box, half-buried in a ditch along Bloor Street. So begins Jeannie's Demise, a real-life Victorian melodrama that played out in the bustling streets and courtrooms of "Toronto the Good, " cast with all the lurid stock characters of the genre. Historian Ian Radforth brings to life an era in which abortion was illegal, criminal proceedings were a spectator sport, and coded advertisements for back-alley procedures ran in the margins of newspapers.
At the centre of the story is the elusive and doomed Jeannie Gilmour, a minister's daughter whose independent spirit can only be glimpsed through secondhand accounts and courtroom reports. As rumours swirl about her final weeks and her abortionists stand trial for their lives, a riveted public grapples with questions of guilt and justice, innocence and intent. Radforth's intensive research grounds the tragedy of Jeannie's demise in sharp historical analysis, presenting over a dozen case studies of similar trials in Victorian-era Canada.
Part gripping procedural, part meticulous autopsy, Jeannie's Demise opens a rare window into the hidden history of a woman's right to choose.
At the centre of the story is the elusive and doomed Jeannie Gilmour, a minister's daughter whose independent spirit can only be glimpsed through secondhand accounts and courtroom reports. As rumours swirl about her final weeks and her abortionists stand trial for their lives, a riveted public grapples with questions of guilt and justice, innocence and intent. Radforth's intensive research grounds the tragedy of Jeannie's demise in sharp historical analysis, presenting over a dozen case studies of similar trials in Victorian-era Canada.
Part gripping procedural, part meticulous autopsy, Jeannie's Demise opens a rare window into the hidden history of a woman's right to choose.
