The Damnation Of John Donellan

The Damnation Of John Donellan: A Mysterious Case Of Death & Scandal In Georgian England

UNDER various pseudonyms, Elizabeth Cooke has been writing for more than 20 years, with her book Little White Lies (written under the name Elizabeth McGregor) televised by the BBC. Her most famous novel, The Ice Child, was printed in 17 countries.

The Damnation Of John Donellan is a dark and twisted true-life account of greed, murder and treachery on the extensive Warwickshire manor of the Boughton family in the year 1780.

The young heir to the estate, Theodosius, suffering from a long-term illness, took his prescription one morning and died painfully soon after. His mother Anna Maria alleged her son-in-law, the Irish soldier John ‘Diamond’ Donellan, was the culprit.

Written on the basis of broad research into accounts given by family, doctors and servants, and on transcripts of the murder trial itself, Cooke’s new work is a haunting book echoing with resentment and gruesome detail, all the more chilling for its factual accuracy.