A gripping and shocking story of a serial killer mother, and the brave daughter who brought her to justice. Dulcie Bodsworth was the unlikeliest serial killer. She was loved everywhere she went, and the townsfolk of Wilcannia, which she called home in the late 1950s, thought of her as kindand caring. The officers at the local police station found Dulcie witty and charming, and looked forward to … forward to the scones and cakes she generously baked and delivered for their morning tea.
That was one side of her. Only her daughter Hazel saw the real Dulcie. And what she saw terrified her.
Dulcie was in fact a cold, calculating killer who, by 1958, had put three men in their graves – one of them the father of her four children, Ted Baron – in one of the most infamous periods of the state’s history. She would have got away with it all had it not been for Hazel.
Written by award-winning journalist Janet Fife-Yeomans together with Hazel Baron, My Mother, A Serial Killer is both an evocative insight into the harshness of life on the fringes of Australian society in the 1950s, and a chilling story of a murderous mother and the courageous daughter who testified against her and put her in jail.
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This is one of those books that you cannot stop thinking about. The writing was very good but it is the incredible story that propels you forward chapter by chapter. It Is the ordinariness of evil that astounds you. Your sympathies are for the family of the killer and the family of the victims as well as for the victims themselves. But the fascinating draw is the sweet little lady serial killer. She is equally fascinating and appalling. The reader’s imagination struggles to get a sense of the life of the daughter after growing up in such proximity to evil. How could she deal with having a mother like that? How could she end up able to love and marry and mother? How did she not go crazy herself? And how can someone like Dulcie exist at all, never mind live such a long life. You can’t stop thinking about Dulcie because you know she’s not the only one. She could be anyone on your street or shopping at your market. And if you met her she would fool you too.
It’s a little slow in some places. However, as a depiction of a female serial and the impact on her family, it’s well worth reading. Gives a sense of a certain stratum of Australian society in the mid-twentieth century.
Very interesting true story. Surprising this book hasn’t been made into a full feature film. It was somewhat challenging reading for a non-Australian. The geography quite confusing, and some of the historical cultural differences brought a lot of questions to mind. Very interesting and shocking characters. I cannot imagine a serial killer as a mother! Blessings to her surviving children.
Scary to think it was true!
This book is about a woman who survives being raised by a mother who murders men for various reasons. It was interesting but not a page turner.
This book is about a female killer in Australia who killed 3 men, one of them her 2nd husband and the father of the author of the book. The other 2 were an employer and a drunk who frequented the cafe where her mother worked.
This book is not always easy to read, but there is so much to this true story and I appreciate the author including so much detail. I so admire Hazel, the daughter, who finally went to the police in spite of fearing her mother and what she knew her mother had done and was capable of doing.
I found this to be a sad story of a woman who has tried to love her mother, but can’t accept or condone the horrendous things she has done. Her mother is very manipulative and self-centered. The daughter has had to come to terms with the childhood she experienced and that she can no longer have contact with her mother.
The writing is not great, but the story is fascinating.
if you like true crime stories this is an interesting story by the muderers daughter
A portrait of supreme selfishness set in Australia that introduced me to life in the outback.
I was trepiditious about this book, but I enjoyed it. Very interesting true crime. A daughter who holds a terrible secret and has deep suspicion regarding her mother who was two very different people. A masterful manipulator, her mother murdered men. Always for something she wanted. Evil comes in so many ways and resides in people differently, able to deceive and confuse those that cross their paths. Often we hear of someone finally caught, but we may or may not think about the people who lived in that person’s life and how these people dealt with them. I learned much about manipulating personalities while reading this. I’ll read it again. To learn more.
I usually like true crime novels, I didn’t finish this one because I lost interest.
Really well written, and held my attention.
Hard to imagine a Mother could do such things.
The book gave a detailed account of a young child who realized her mother and her mother’s boyfriend had thrown her disabled father into a river and drowned him,
What chances do children have with a mother like that? It’s incredible how she was able to come out of all the craziness in one piece and sane!
We’ll written. The daughter is to be commended for turning in her mother. What a horrible situation to grow up in.
The story of an asocial mother who kills her husband and holds a grip on her children…even into adulthood
Interesting, however, the language was “down home” Australian and used may phrases and words I was not familiar with.
This book told about a very different way of life in Australia.