Review of The Much Maligned Mary Pike

[Fazzier]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Much Maligned Mary Pike" by Kieran Groeger.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The Much-Maligned Mary Pike is an interesting, highly-researched historical book written by Kieran Groeger. This biography analysis takes us back to the 18th century, and it analyzes the true-life story of Mary Pike, a wealthy Irish Quaker heiress who was abducted by Sir Henry Brown Hayes. Due to Mary Pike's immense wealth, Sir Henry Brown Hayes saw that the only way he could regain wealth was by abducting her and luring her into marriage. Although a risky undertaking that was punishable by death, he concocted a detailed plan and decided to proceed anyway. If successful, he would become rich; however, if caught and proved guilty, he risked being hanged since abduction was a serious offense at that time. There are several independent publications about this interesting piece of history, some of which are inaccurate, lack provable historical evidence, and favor Sir Henry Brown Hayes more than Mary Pike. In this book, the author illuminates Mary Pike’s life by analyzing publications about her to enable readers to see the true, unbiased life of the wealthy Quaker heiress, as opposed to some popular misrepresentations about her. All these have been supported by provable historical evidence.

Kieran Groeger is an ardent historian who has published many history books, and his experience was one of the factors that drew me to read this book. I was not disappointed. I liked how he approached writing this, starting from Mary Pike’s childhood, and thus, enabling readers to understand her before the abduction. Related characters were also adequately captured. I liked the fact that this book not only shows the author’s stand but they are also backed by reliable historical evidence and publications. Moreover, this book also gives us an insight into the tension that was present between the Protestants and the Catholics, and the Catholic's struggle for equity and abolition of oppressive laws that made them look like second-class citizens at the time. The top-notch execution and the evidence-backed analysis were my favorite aspects of this book, and they enhanced my enjoyment of this book and overall reading experience.

However, I cannot say this book was totally unbiased. Since the author had already taken a stand on this research, that of supporting Mary Pike, it is likely this research suffered confirmation bias. This is because, although this work is evidence-backed, the author may have only looked for details that support his hypothesis. I saw some of these biases in his word choice and his tendency to have a soft spot for Mary Pike, as opposed to Sir Henry Brown Hayes. Regardless, this did not acutely detract from my enjoyment of this work.

All in all, I didn't find anything objective to dislike about this book, and so the observation does not influence my rating in any way. I believe it was professionally edited since I found only an error. I am, therefore, glad to award The Much-Maligned Mary Pike by Kieran Groeger 4 out of 4 stars.

To fans of interesting well-researched historical books, I highly recommend this. Those who would like to have a glimpse of how it was between the Catholics and Protestants will also appreciate this. On the other hand, except for those not into history books, there is no other person who may consider skipping it.

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The Much Maligned Mary Pike
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[Odu Samuel]

This cool and always advisiful not to claim some wealth because it cause harm.

[Maliha Naveed]

It is always difficult to believe the account of historical books. I always like history and fiction together as it doesn't become boring for the readers. Good review.

[Ailakhu Yusau Aizhebiomon]

History books are invaluable no matter what perspective is presented by the author. It's amazing to know that abduction is a prohibited constitute crime in some clans in the past. thanks for your review.

[Kavita Shah]

It sounds like an interesting historical event. An unbiased view about Mary sounds really good. Thank you for a detailed review!