The Penguin Post Volume 29 - Magazine - Page 15
BOOK CLUB
The Yorkshire
Ripper Through
the Eyes of
a Child
Jennie Godfrey was born and raised in Yorkshire
and her debut novel, The List of Suspicious Things,
was partly inspired by her father having worked
alongside Peter Sutcliffe, the man eventually
charged with the crimes of the Yorkshire Ripper.
PHOTOGRAPHS: Esme Mai
“W
hen I started the book,
I was very clear in my
mind that I wanted West
Yorkshire to feel like a character in its own
right. It helped that I grew up there – though
we left when I was relatively young – and
old family albums were my starting point
for images that captured the time and place.
While I was writing, I actually wallpapered
my study with photographs of Yorkshire, so
that I was surrounded by vivid scenes. This
really helped, as did the work of a particular
photographer (Peter Mitchell) whose images
of Leeds in the 1970’s perfectly captured
the world I was writing about. They are so
evocative that it made writing about the
look and feel of the time much easier.
The book is inspired by real-life events
and my own family history – my father
worked alongside the man eventually
charged with the crimes of the Yorkshire
Ripper. I am lucky that my dad is still with
us, and I grilled him for memories and
stories from the 1970’s (which he remembers
vividly). I particularly wanted to focus on the
emotion and ‘feel’ of the time, so that I could
build those into entirely made-up scenes and
characters. I was quite nervous about him
reading it, as he’s clearly not Austin (Miv’s
father) but some of his experiences are, of
I am lucky
that my
dad is still
with us,
and I grilled
him for
memories
and stories.
The List of
Suspicious Things
is out now.
course, reflected in the book – particularly
when Peter Sutcliffe was caught and he
realised he knew him – but he absolutely
loved it, which was important for me.
It was a real risk having a child
narrator, as I know they can be hard to
get right, but in a world full of true crime
documentaries and podcasts, I wanted
to look at that time and place through a
different, more innocent lens. I think it
shines a different light on events,
and as I wrote at the front of the book,
there really is a whole generation of
northern children whose childhoods
were forever changed by the murders.
Miv’s perspective shows that, I think,
while also being the hope for the future
that children represent.
This novel was written during the
early stages of the pandemic, when we
really did not know what the future held
for any of us. It was such a fearful and
unsettling time, but the thing that shone
through for me was how communities
came together and supported each other
through it. There was so much hope in
that, and with the book, I really wanted
to leave the reader with that same sense
of optimism about the human spirit,
even in the darkest of times.”
THE PENGUIN POST MARCH/APRIL 2024
13