Cotton Mary is a poignant fictional account of a young woman who attempts to overcome a life destined to be spent as a field hand, and a lack of formal education by moving to town and working as a cotton mill hand in the early 1930's. Marriage and children elevate her ambitions far beyond a mill village existence. Deeply held convictions drive this independent woman to push her husband to seek greener pastures for the sake of their family. Following a series of sometimes comical, sometimes tragic gypsy-like ventures through Alabama, Mary finally achieves her goal of building a house of her own only to find herself completely alone at midlife. Her return to work in the cotton mill and to long-forgotten fellow laborers triggers a flood of questions about the meaning of her life, questions she cannot ignore.

This book was the inspiration for the ITV drama Dark Angel. As one of the UK’s leading commentators, David Wilson shows how some serial killers stay in the headlines whilst others rapidly become invisible - or “unseen”. Yet Mary Ann Cotton is not just the first but perhaps the 1st’s most prolific female serial killer, with more victims than Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, Beverly Allit or male predators such as Jack the Ripper and Dennis Nilsen. But her own north east of England (and criminologists) apart, she remains largely forgotten, despite poisoning to death up to 21 victims in Britain’s ‘arsenic century’. Exploding myths that every serial killer is a ‘monster’, the author draws attention to Cotton’s charms, allure, capability, skill and ambition - drawing parallels or contrasting the methods and lifestyles of other serial killers from Victorian to modern times. He also shows how events cannot be separated from their social context – here the industrial revolution, growing mobility, women’s emancipation and greater assertiveness. And concerning the reticence of ‘human nature’, like Dr Harold Shipman, Cotton was allowed to go on killing despite reasons to suspect her. The book contains other resonances to aid understanding of how serial murderers can go undiscovered despite such things as coincidence, gossip, whispers or motives that become more obvious with the benefit of hindsight. It is also a detective story in which the persistence of a single individual saw Cotton tried and executed, events analysed first-hand from the archives and location visits as the author fills the gaps in a remarkable story. By a leading expert on serial killers; Meticulously researched and highly readable; Fresh interpretations mean this book is destined to be the definitive title on Mary Ann Cotton. ‘An enthralling read David Wilson does not write generic ‘true crime’, but history of the highest order’: Judith Flanders, best-selling author, journalist and historian. David Wilson is Professor of Criminology and Director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University. An ex-prison governor he has broadcast for the BBC, Channel 4, Sky and Channel 5 (where he presents ‘Killers Behind Bars’). His books include Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and Their Victims 1960-2006 (2007) and Looking for Laura: Public Criminology and Hot News (2011).

In Stuffing Cotton, Mary Christine Strobel gives an account of surviving a traumatic boat accident only to find herself less than a year later struggling with her faith when her world was shattered and turned upside down for decades by the most horrific disease you have never heard of, recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Its destructiveness and cruelty knocked her down time and time again but she refused to accept defeat and fought to save the lives of her children. In this memoir, Mary Christine Strobel offers her insights on recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa and how Stuffing Cotton became a part of her daily life.

A novel, based on personal experience. It outlines the story of the author who contracted Parkinson's several years ago and compares her experiences and progress with that of a woman who lived two hundred years ago in Britain.

A true crime account of the life, trial, death, and aftermath of Britain’s first female serial killer. A female thief, with four husbands, a lover and, reportedly, over twelve children, is arrested and tried for the murder of her stepson in 1872, turning the small village of West Auckland in County Durham upside down. Other bodies are exhumed and when they are found to contain arsenic, she is suspected of their murder as well. The perpetrator, Mary Ann Cotton, was tried and found guilty and later hanged on 24 March 1873 in Durham Gaol. It is claimed she murdered over twenty people and was the first female serial killer in England. With location photographs and a blow-by-blow account of the trial, this book challenges the claim that Mary Ann Cotton was the “The West Auckland Borgia,” a title given to her at the time. It sets out her life, trial, death, and the aftermath and also questions the legal system used to convict her by looking at contemporary evidence from the time and offering another explanation for the deaths. The book also covers the lives of those left behind, including the daughter born to Mary Ann Cotton in Durham Gaol. Mary Ann Cotton’s crimes were the subject of the 2016 ITV drama, Dark Angel, starring Joanne Froggatt. Praise for Mary Ann Cotton, Dark Angel Recommended as one of the Evening Standard’s “Best biographies and memoirs to read in 2016” “For true crime historians, fans of intriguing crime tales, and those interested in how criminal justice operated in the Victorian era, this is a well-presented book on a complex case. Furthermore, it is a book which explores all the evidence available and questions whether or not the conviction and execution of Mary Ann Cotton in 1873 was the correct outcome.” —Crime Traveller

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Albemarle Parish was formed in 1738 and covered the southern portion of Surry County. It became part of Sussex County when that county was created from Surry County in 1753.