York Literature Festival
Tickets for Events
HALLIE RUBENHOLD: THE STORY OF A MURDER
Friday 30 October 2026.
7- 8.30pm
Merchant Adventurer’s Hall, YO1 9XD
£12 per ticket (concessions available)
The page-turning retelling of the historical true-crime story of infamous wife-murderer Dr Crippen, brought to justice by an extraordinary group of women
On 1 February, 1910, vivacious music-hall performer, Belle Elmore, suddenly vanished from her north London home, causing alarm among her circle of female friends, the entertainers of the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild who demanded an immediate investigation.
They could not have known what they would provoke: the unearthing of a gruesome secret, followed by a fevered manhunt for the prime suspect: Belle’s husband, medical fraudster, Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen.
Hiding in the shadows of this evergreen tale is Crippen’s typist and lover, Ethel Le Neve – was she really just ‘an innocent young girl’ in thrall to a powerful older man as so many people have since reported?
In this epic examination of one of the most infamous murders of the twentieth century, prizewinning social historian Hallie Rubenhold gives voice to those who have never properly been heard – the women.
‘Fascinating. It’s about time Belle became the hero of her own story’
Val McDermid, bestselling author of the Karen Pirie series
Hallie Rubenhold is the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling and Baillie Gifford prize-winning author of The Five: The Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. A renowned social historian whose expertise lies in revealing stories of previously unknown women and episodes in history, she is the author of The Covent Garden Ladies which was the inspiration behind BBC TV’s ‘Harlots’. Her biographical work, Lady Worsley’s Whim, was dramatized by the BBC as ‘The Scandalous Lady W’. She has also written two acclaimed novels Mistress of My Fate and The French Lesson which give voice to the women written out by eighteenth-century literature. She lives in London with her husband.
Criminally Good Books will be supplying copies at the event with signings taking place after the talk.
Sponsored by York St John University
Our thanks go to those people and organisations that continue to support us every single year: York St John University, St Peter’s School, The Mount School, York Theatre Royal and Explore York Libraries and Archives.
Rob O’Connor, Festival Chair
VOLUNTEERS
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY NOT LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR YLF 2026.
If you wish to volunteer as a steward for the York Literature Festival then please get in touch with us at info@yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk. Please be aware that volunteers may be required to carry out light manual tasks (e.g. moving chairs) and must have an enthusiasm for literary events. Volunteers will be asked to steward for 30-60 minutes before the start of each event and will be welcome to join the audience once the event has started.