The Bradford Poisonings

The Bradford Poisonings: When Sweetness Turned to Death is a gripping historical novel based upon one of Victorian Britain’s most shocking public health disasters.Bradford, 1858.As the industrial town of Bradford expands beneath smoke-filled skies and towering mill chimneys, a simple batch of peppermint lozenges sold by confectioner William Hardaker, better known locally as 'Humbug Billy', turns deadly after arsenic is mistakenly mixed into the ingredients. Within hours, families fall violently ill, panic spreads through the streets, and the town is thrust into a tragedy that will leave more than twenty people dead and hundreds poisoned.Amid growing fear and public outrage, local officials, surgeons, journalists, and grieving families struggle to understand how such a catastrophe could have happened. As renowned analytical chemist Felix Rimmington begins investigating the disaster, a deeper story emerges of industrial pressure, weak regulation, poverty, commerce, and the dangerous consequences of a rapidly changing Victorian society.Drawing upon real historical events, contemporary newspaper reports, and Bradford’s rich industrial history, John Lawless reconstructs the human drama behind the infamous Bradford arsenic poisoning case with vivid atmosphere and emotional depth.Part forensic investigation, part social history, and part human tragedy, The Bradford Poisonings brings to life the streets, mills, marketplaces, and ordinary people caught at the centre of a disaster that helped change Britain forever.