The Wilderness of Ruin

An enthralling tale of madness and murder,set against the backdrop of Boston’s Great Fire and America’s Gilded Age In 1871young children were disappearing from Boston’s working- class neighborhoods. The few who returned told desperate tales of being taken to the woods and tortured by a boy not much older than themselves. The police were skepticalΓÇöthese children were from poor familiesso their testimony was easily discounted. And after the Great Boston Fire of 1872 reduced much of downtown to rubblethe city had more pressing concerns. Finallywhen the police apprehended Jesse Pomeroy for the crimeshelike any twelve-year-oldwas sent off to reform school. Little thought was given to the danger he might pose to societydespite victims’ chilling reports of this affectless Boy Torturer. Sixteen months laterJesse was released in the care of his motherand within months a ten-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy went missingtheir mutilated bodies later discovered by police. This set off a frantic hunt for Pomeroywho was now proclaimed America’s youngest serial killer. When he was captured and brought to trialhis case transfixed the nationand two public figuresΓÇöHerman Melville and Oliver Wendell HolmesΓÇöeach probed the depths of Pomeroy’s character in a search for the meaning behind his madness. Roseanne Montilloauthor of the acclaimed The Lady and Her Monsterstakes us inside those harrowing yearsas a city reeling from great disaster reckoned with the moral quandaries posed by Pomeroy’s spree. What makes a person good or evil? How do we develop as moral beings? At what age do we hold someone responsible for violating society’s moral code? And what does our fascination with such ghastly deeds reveal about us? The Wilderness of Ruin is a dazzling combination of true-crime thrillsa fresh perspective on mental illnessand a fascinating look at American class turmoil that captures the spirit of a turbulent age.