Mosman Readers

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Eugenia - Mark Tedeschi

This is the true story of Eugenia Falleni, who although born into a woman's body lived most of her life as a man. As a man, Eugenia was known as Harry Crawford, who married two women who, as surprising as it might seem to those of us looking at the case from the 21st century, didn't suspect that Harry wasn't a man.

Eugenia was charged with the murder of her first wife, Annie Birkett in 1920 three years after her death, while she was married to Lizzie Crawford her second wife, and it is Eugenia's trial, that Mark Tedeschi QC considers for most of the book. It is a very interesting study of how Eugenia's case was subject to mishandling and to the prejudices of the times. Tedeschi takes us through the police investigation, the ferocious attack on her character by the press, the public who saw her as an aberration who must be punished, the tactics of the clever Crown prosecutor and her defence council's poor showing against him.

This is indeed a sad and tragic tale