Connie's Secret: The true story of a shocking murder and a family mystery at a time when appearances were everything

Description

On February 4, 1939, Connie Sommerlad was brutally butchered and her brother left for dead in their family farmhouse in rural Tenterfield. It was a murder that would rock the tight-knit community; a murder made all the more shocking by the fact that their assailant was a local man working for the Sommerlads. Jack Kelly, who was to become the last person to be hanged in New South Wales, struggled to explain his awful crime even as he faced the gallows. Yet this was far from the only mystery to be exposed by Connie's tragic end. What really happened to Connie in those lost years between her move to Sydney as a young woman and her fateful return to her home town? And what was the secret so shameful that, even as Kelly stood trial for her murder, the Sommerlads conspired to keep it from the public record? Vividly evoking small-town Australia in the months leading up to the outbreak of World War II, Connie's Secret brings to life the story of a highly respectable family desperately trying to protect their talented but wayward daughter's reputation at a time when religion, virtue, and maintaining appearances held sway over every thought and deed. This fascinating insight into another era is written with the emotional force of a novel, but these events did happen—and their devastating impact continues to be felt by those left behind even today. Part Title......Page 1 Title Page......Page 3 Dedication......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 Author's Note......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 9 Prologue......Page 11 Part One: A Fiendish Murder at Tenterfield......Page 19 One......Page 21 Two......Page 24 Three......Page 34 Four......Page 42 Five......Page 48 Six......Page 53 Seven......Page 61 Eight......Page 66 Nine......Page 74 Part Two: Who Was Connie?......Page 79 Ten......Page 81 Eleven......Page 92 Twelve......Page 99 Thirteen......Page 105 Fourteen......Page 110 Fifteen......Page 115 Sixteen......Page 120 Seventeen......Page 126 Eighteen......Page 132 Nineteen......Page 138 Twenty......Page 146 Twenty-one......Page 161 Twenty-two......Page 167 Twenty-three......Page 173 Twenty-four......Page 181 Twenty-five......Page 186 Twenty-six......Page 193 Twenty-seven......Page 197 Twenty-eight......Page 201 Part Three: A Dire Punishment......Page 209 Twenty-nine......Page 211 Thirty......Page 217 Thirty-one......Page 226 Thirty-two......Page 234 Thirty-three......Page 237 Thirty-four......Page 243 Thirty-five......Page 250 Thirty-six......Page 260 Epilogue......Page 265 Thirty-seven......Page 267 Thirty-eight......Page 270 Thirty-nine......Page 277 Appendix......Page 281