I've just finished this, really enjoyed it so thought I'd post a quick recommendation.
It's by Kate Summerscale who wrote The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and it's in the same vein as that - Victorian true crime.
It's about a 13 year old boy who killed his mother - and it follows him through his life with a very unexpected ending.
It's absolutely jam packed with period detail and paints very vivid portraits of certain aspects of life back then....I can't be more speciifc because even saying which aspects would be a spoiler.
Fascinating - really well researched and written. Loved it.
Btw....can't recommend the audio version. I started with that and had to send it back within a chapter because the narrator sounded like he was reading the news.
