Book review: One of Your Own

ONE OF YOUR OWNBY CAROL ANN LEE (Mainstream, £11.99)
By The Newsroom
Published 26th Mar 2010, 18:23 BST
Updated 26th Mar 2010, 20:47 BST

IT'S hard not to feel sympathy with someone who suffered the full-on vilification of the British press for almost 40 years. With Myra Hindley, though, the temptation is worth resisting.

Granted, an unfortunate mugshot made her an icon of evil; granted, she served a long sentence for her crimes, as cruel as they were. The idea that she became a hostage to public vengefulness may have the ring of truth – we're gluttons for other people's punishment, after all.

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Over and over again, though, this intelligent and impressively fair-minded biography brings us up against the icy opportunism of Hindley's so-called remorse, the cynicism with which she played those around her and those who campaigned on her behalf. All this might be forgiven; what can't be is the coldness with which she continued to torture her victims' families with her games of silence, her evasive hints and half-confessions.