Podcast Summary: New Books Network - Interview with Susannah Wilson on "A Most Quiet Murder: Maternity, Affliction, and Violence in Late Nineteenth-Century France"

Episode Overview

This episode features host Yana Byers in conversation with Susannah Wilson, Associate Professor of French Studies at the University of Warwick, discussing Wilson’s 2025 book A Most Quiet Murder: Maternity, Affliction, and Violence in Late Nineteenth-Century France (Cornell University Press). The book is a microhistory centered on the infamous "Fiquet affair," unraveling the complexities of maternity, addiction, class, and violence in 19th-century France through the life and crime of Marie Françoise Fiquet.

Main Theme

Wilson’s book delves into a little-known case of child murder in 1882 Dijon, France, exploring the suspect’s psychological state, the societal context surrounding working-class women, and the ways in which institutions—legal, medical, and social—responded to such acts of violence. The microhistory format vividly reconstructs the social fabric of late 19th-century urban France while probing issues of addiction, gender, deviance, and the limits of historical knowledge.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Origins of the Research & The "Happy Accident" (02:01 - 05:24)

• Serendipitous Discovery: Wilson stumbled upon the Fiquet affair while researching morphine addiction in 19th-century France, particularly cases involving so-called morphinomania.

  • "As I was looking into the medical literature on morphine...I kept stumbling across a reference to a thesis...about crime, crimes committed by morphine addicts..." (02:30, C)

• The "Fiquet affair" involved a female morphine addict who murdered a child—a case seen as a touchstone for debates on drugs and criminality.

• Archival Treasure Trove: Wilson located the original criminal dossier in Dijon’s city archives, which had remained untouched since the 1883 trial.

  • "...all the witness statements were there, and letters and communications between investigators and so on. I don't think it had been opened since the conclusion of the trial in 1883." (04:45, C)

2. The Victim: Henriette Barbet (05:24 – 08:24)

• Profile: Five-year-old Henriette Barbet was the vulnerable daughter of working-class parents—her father a cobbler, her mother a tobacco factory worker.
  • "She was described as being very shy, very uncertain, nervous child...bullied by other children. So there's a kind of vulnerability around this child..." (06:20, C)
• Circumstances of Disappearance: A woman lured Henriette from school by telling her that her mother was waiting, witnessed by other children from the neighborhood.
  • "She'd been at school...as she was leaving school, a woman...approached her and said, come with me, your mother is waiting at home in my house for you. And the child believed the woman trusted her and went with her." (07:19, C)

3. Social & Urban Context: Dijon’s Working Class (08:24 – 10:26)

• Industrial Setting: Dijon was a city with a significant influx of rural migrants drawn by industrial jobs, leading to crowded, precarious living conditions.
  • "...in the 1880s, you know, France was industrializing...these would have been quite sort of dirty environments. But this is, you know, how most people lived at the time." (10:06, C)

4. The Suspect: Marie Françoise Fiquet (10:26 – 15:34)

• Background: Fiquet emerged as an intelligent but deeply troubled woman with a history of instability, early pregnancies, and chaotic relationships.
  • "She emerges in terms of her character...a very intelligent woman, but from a very young age had lived quite a chaotic...life and had certain vulnerabilities." (10:53, C)
• Personal Life: Pregnant at 15, Fiquet had one child die and another survive, later marrying Pierre Fiquet, an unremarkable but devoted husband.
• Social Reputation: Fiquet was notorious for job loss due to theft, sexual promiscuity (including an affair with a priest), suspected poisoning, obsession with medical settings, and a compulsion to pose as a midwife.
  • "She had lots and lots of sexual liaisons. And they ended up moving to Dijon...she had ambitions to become a midwife...she spent a lot of time in hospital..." (12:13, C)
  • "Her neighbors...strongly suspected that she'd poisoned some people...there was some accusation that she might have poisoned somebody else." (13:44, C)

5. Patterns of Behavior, Rehearsal, and Medical Obsession (18:44 – 21:33)

• Dangerous Patterns: Evidence suggests Fiquet rehearsed the abduction before Henriette’s murder and was fixated on accessing vulnerable mothers and children through medical settings.
  • "There was a reported case of another small child being taken from near her home and then taken to the railway station and abandoned…" (18:44, C)
• Testimony and Motives: Fiquet offered shifting explanations—spirit guides, drugs, compulsion—never providing a stable narrative.
  • "In all the interrogations, the one thing that she does reliably articulate is this idea of, I don't know what it was that made me do it." (20:42, C)

6. The Complexity of the Trial (21:33 – 28:35)

• Shifting Narratives: Both the investigation and trial struggled to pin down motive and coherence in Fiquet's statements.
  • "The hardest part of the book to write...was the section where I was talking about the investigation because it was all the bits of information that came together that contradicted themselves and didn't make this clear picture." (21:48, C)
• Drug Use: Fiquet was a morphine injector suffering withdrawal at the time of the murder, further muddying her mental state.
  • "She was in withdrawal because she said that her syringe had broken...I have found other cases of people taking similar doses, so it was possible." (26:11, C)

7. Gender, Deviance, and Societal Expectations (29:46 – 34:46)

• Factitious Disorder and Gender: Wilson hypothesizes Fiquet suffered from a factitious disorder, simulating illness for attention—a behavior that intersected problematically with 19th-century gender norms.
  • "She seems to have had what psychiatrists call factitious disorder... Munchausen's by proxy, where you induce illness...in order to get attention." (29:06, C)
• Societal Reactions: Unlike the usually lenient attitude toward women who committed infanticide in desperation, Fiquet’s calculated actions and lack of motive ensured her vilification.
  • "...The abduction of Henriette was so shocking to people because they could not see a motive…so within a woman who...committed infanticide, often people could join the dots...when they looked at Madame Fiquet...all they could see was this must be a bad element that we have to eliminate." (32:49, C)
• Press Representation: The press portrayed Fiquet as a "woman dressed in black," contrasting her villainy against the innocence of the victim and community.

8. The Verdict and Aftermath (34:46 – 39:43)

• Insanity Defense Attempted: Fiquet’s lawyer invoked a form of "hysteria" as a defense, but the jury did not fully accept it—granting only mitigating circumstances.
  • "He kind of came up with this fully formed theory of madness...His aim was to kind of discredit the psychiatric testimony...but that wasn't really accepted by the...jury." (35:08, C)
• Final Judgment: Fiquet avoided the death penalty, sentenced instead to 20 years of hard labor.
  • "...She was sentenced to 20 years of hard labor instead of execution." (37:34, C)
• Her Fate: It's likely Fiquet served her time in France, not transported, and probably did not survive the entirety of her sentence.
  • "There's no record of her being transported anywhere...She definitely wasn't transported...So I think the likelihood is that she went to prison in France." (39:08, C)

9. Uniqueness and Typicality (39:43 – 43:54)

• Exceptional Case: While some elements of Fiquet’s life mirror broader struggles of working-class women, her compulsion and escalation to violence are understood as exceptional.
  • "I think she's quite far outside of normal...these exceptional reactions do happen. And one of the things I say in the book is...the repetition compulsion...the idea that you revisit difficult experiences in order to try and gain control over them." (40:15/41:58, C)
• Morphine Addiction: Unlike most from her class, Fiquet’s intense medical seeking enabled morphine access, which though not unheard of, was rarer among working-class women.
  • "People of her class typically would not have had the access that she had to that drug...She was really very preoccupied with medical things..." (42:33, C)

10. Looking Forward (43:57 – 44:25)

• Future Research: Wilson plans to refocus on her unfinished book regarding the cultural history of morphine, after this case “distracted” her for three years.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Foundational Research

  • "This book is a happy accident...as I was looking into the medical literature on morphine...I kept stumbling across a reference to...crime, crimes committed by morphine addicts..." (02:30, C)

• On the Compulsion Behind Crime

  • "There was something in me that pushed me to do this. I don't know what it was. So I think that to me, hinted at some sort of compulsion that she couldn't quite articulate." (20:42, C)

• On Social Judgment and Gender

  • "She really was the opposite of whatever the culturally sanctioned vision of a working class woman was. She was the opposite." (34:32, C)

• On the Challenge of Historical Narrative

  • "The hardest part of the book to write...was the section where I was talking about the investigation because...it contradicted [itself] and didn't make this clear picture." (21:48, C)

• On Factitious Disorder

  • "She seems to have had what psychiatrists call factitious disorder...where you induce illness...to get attention." (29:06, C)

Important Segment Timestamps

• 02:01 — Wilson describes how she discovered the case.
• 05:24 — Introduction of the victim, Henriette Barbet.
• 10:26 — Detailed profile of Marie Françoise Fiquet.
• 18:44 — Patterned and premeditated behaviors by Fiquet.
• 21:33 — Challenges of reconstructing the investigation and trial.
• 29:46 — Theoretical framing: factitious disorder and gender deviance.
• 34:46 — Societal responses and press representations.
• 37:34 — Legal outcome: verdict and sentence.
• 39:43 — Discussing typicality and exceptionalism.
• 43:57 — Future research plans.

Conclusion

Through detailed archival research and nuanced analysis, Susannah Wilson's A Most Quiet Murder unpacks a gripping yet disturbing episode from fin-de-siècle France, revealing much about gender, violence, media, and the construction of deviance. The interview offers listeners not only insight into the case and its actors, but also new ways to think about the “quiet murders” that shape historical memory and scholarly inquiry.