Ruth Ellis, My Mother A Daughter's Memoir of the Last Woman to Be Hanged

On July 13, 1955, Ruth Ellis was hanged for the murder of the lover who jilted her, motor-racing driver David Blakely. Forty years on, her only surviving child, Georgie, recalls her mother's tragic life that culminated in the murder for which she was executed. She tells it with the insight and intimate knowledge that only a daughter could have, supported by family reminiscences and photographs. Oddly, Georgie's life has mirrored her mother's, stopping just short of repeating the murder act that condemned Ruth Ellis to the gallows. Like her mother, she sought the bright lights, before succumbing to the cruel passions of a series of restless men. She also turned to alcohol to ease her distress and, at rock bottom, drifted at times into prostitution. Along the way, Georgie enjoyed the champagne lifestyle in a string of affairs that embraced George Best, Richard Harris and the man she came so close to killing, property tycoon David Beard, father of her last two children and, like David Blakely, also a lover of motor racing. Today, Georgie Ellis has picked up the pieces of her life and has become an independent woman at last. For the first time, she is able to tell her full story of her mother's life, trial and execution, and how in turn it shaped her own destiny.