On 1 March 2026, my new book will be published. It is called: Five Evil Women: Hindley, West, Wuornos, Homolka, Tucker (Reaktion Books). So, I have decided to re-post a few talks I gave on 'evil women'. These are some of the women who did not make it into the book version. The woman for today is the Evil Queen in Snow White. Each generation invents evil. And evil women have incited our imaginations since Eve first plucked that apple.   One of my favourites evil women is the

My new book will be published on 1 March 2026, with the amazing publisher, Reaktion Books. Five 'evil' women.... Myra Hindley, Aileen Wuornos, Rosemary West, Karla Homolka, and Karla Faye Tucker. The book is a non-sensationalist history of five women who have been called 'icons of evil'. What do we mean when we label a person 'evil'? How else might we understand their acts of extreme cruelty? Why should we bother thinking about them at all? The central question I have struggl

Evil women. This is the first of a series of blogs about evil women, so, before turning to Eve’s evil legacies, I want to draw attention...

Each generation invents evil. And evil women have incited our imaginations since Eve first plucked that apple.   One of my favourites...

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,  Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend  More than cool reason ever comprehends.  The...