Book Review: A Fatal Love by Louisa Treger

Published August 27, 2026 | By Laura

Following Ruth Ellis’ long-awaited posthumous conditional pardon in July 2026, never has there been a more compelling moment to revisit the woman behind one of Britain’s most enduring legal cases.

It is Easter Sunday in 1955 and a young man lies face-down on the ground covered in blood. A woman, blonde and petite, stands over him with a gun in her hand. This is the story of Ruth Ellis as never told before…

As Ruth awaits her trial in Holloway Prison, she recollects growing up in England during the Second World War and the events that led to the death of her lover, David Blakely.

Meanwhile, Kitty Carrington – the assistant to Ruth’s trial lawyer – tries to forge her own path through the male-dominated legal world of the 1950s and ensure that Ruth receives a fair trial.

Navigating secrets, betrayal and a broken justice system, Ruth and Kitty try to take control of their own lives and narratives. But do we ever really know the full story?

*****

When Ruth Ellis murdered her lover, David Blakely in 1955, it started a debate that continues in 2026. Was she a cold-blooded killer or was she pushed to the brink by a man and a life that broke her?

Ruth Ellis and her case from 1955 is one that has fascinated me for a long time. When the review request for Louisa Treger’s new book, A Fatal Love, came along, I was eager to get reading.

Now, we all know how Ruth’s story ends. What this book explores is the emotional side of Ruth – the thoughts and feelings that led her to murder David Blakely.

This kind of book is one I find interesting. It mixes fact and fiction to give us a look into Ruth’s life. How she felt, what she went through and how her relationships affected her as a human being. Of course. we won’t ever know the truth of what motivated her or how she really felt about things, but this is one interpretation.

Told from the point of view of Ruth and the fictionalised Kitty, this novel takes us through Ruth Ellis’s first meeting with David, right through to the day of her execution.

I had my thoughts and some knowledge of this crime before I began to read. More layers have been added since finishing.

In my opinion, the author does a really good job at making Ruth human. Not someone seen through headlines and rumour, but a woman who was complicated. There was so much about her I didn’t know. For instance, the trauma she experienced at the hands of her father and the relationship she had with Desmond Cussen. I do feel he maybe he bore some responsibly when it came to her decisions. Obviously, this is my personal opinion and nothing was legally proven to confirm that he had anything to do with the crime.

Ruth was a flawed and broken human who could never seem to break free of the horrible cycle she’d found herself in. When you grow up with abuse, it warps your world view, and I feel that this is what happened to Ruth Ellis. She loved a man who tore her apart physically and emotionally. I truly believe that. You take the love you think you deserve; I feel that this was the case with Ruth.

Kitty was an interesting addition. In reality, there were no women on Ruth’s legal team. I would have liked to have seen one. I did like seeing it through Kitty’s eyes as it meant, even if it’s only through fiction, that Ruth had someone who truly wanted to advocate for her. This book certainly has a point of view when it comes to her legal team and that not enough was done for her. Some of this was maybe down to Ruth and her point of view but not completely.

Louisa Treger had me hooked from the first page to the last. This book gives a perspective that the true crime documentaries can’t – a peek into the mind of a woman who was a victim of her class and sex in 1950’s Britain. A person who was judged for being a bad mother, and an unworthy woman.

Her life and trial were not simple. There’s no straight line of right and wrong.

Do I feel she was manipulated? Yes. Do I feel she was used? Yes. Do I think she was totally responsible for her crime? No. She committed it, there’s no denying that. I would just like to see how her case would be viewed now in a world that is starting to, little by little, take mental health, domestic abuse and coercive control more seriously. In fact, Ruth Ellis received a pardon in July 2026 for those exact reasons.

I’m going to stop now. I could go on forever about this book and case to be honest.

I hope that, if you have any interest in Ruth Ellis, her case, mental health and the psychological aspects of what drove her to commit one of the worst crimes, this book is for you.

I feel it’s a must for any fans of true crime. To say I loved it would sound inappropriate so I’ll say that Louisa Treger helped me get into the mind of Ruth and allowed me to understand human nature, and how that can be affected and manipulated by internal and external forces. Understanding how each other works and think can only be a good thing.

One thing is for sure, I am going to be thinking about Ruth and this book for a long time.

(Thank you to Graeme Williams Marketing for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.)

About Louisa Treger –

Louisa Treger, a classical violinist, studied at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and worked as a freelance orchestral player and teacher.

She subsequently turned to literature, earning a Ph.D. in English at University College London, where she focused on early-twentieth-century women’s writing and was awarded the West Scholarship ‘for distinguished work in the study of English Language and Literature.’

Louisa’s first novel, The Lodger, was published in 2014, and her second novel, The Dragon Lady, was published by Bloomsbury in 2019. She lives in London.

Say hi to Louisa via her website, and Instagram.

A Fatal Love was released by Bloomsbury Publishing on 27th August 2026. Click to buy Amazon UK, Amazon US, Barnes & Noble and Waterstones.