From Cradle to Grave: The Short Lives and Strange Deaths of Marybeth Tinning's Nine Children - Hardcover

Egginton, Joyce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688075665 ISBN 13: 9780688075668

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1989

Synopsis

Probes the strange and disturbing case of Marybeth Tinning, a woman whose trial for the death of one of her infants led to suspicion that she killed all nine of her children, and the conspiracy of silence around her acts

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Marybeth Tinning of Schenectady, N.Y., bore eight children and adopted a ninth; all of the infants died, even though all but one seemed healthy. Autopsies were performed on some, with inconclusive results, and the causes of death were generally described as undetermined or ascribed to crib death. Except for the first baby, who had died of a congenital illness, Tinning had probably killed them all, according to Egginton's ( The Poisoning of Michigan ) sensitive, thought-provoking study. An insecure, unstable woman married to an emotionless, passive husband, Tinning suffered, the author concludes, from postpartum psychosis, induced by her belief that she was an unfit mother and by her inability to cope with the everyday problems of raising children. Convicted of murdering her ninth baby, Tami Lynne, Tinning is serving a 20-year-to-life sentence. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

From 1972 to 1985, all the children of the Tinnings, a Schenectady, N.Y. couple, died in infancy. At first, friends and physicians assumed they were victims of "crib death" or an inexplicable genetic flaw. As the deaths continued, suspicion mounted against the mother, who was always alone when her babies were stricken. Without hard evidence, officialdom was agonizingly slow to act, but finally, following a police interrogation, Marybeth made a confession (later retracted) to smothering three children. Investigative reporter Egginton has written a moving, sympathetic account of human tragedy, including insights into what triggers infanticide, a phenomenon which the author suggests is more prevalent than commonly believed. Recommended.
- Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0688075665
• ISBN 13: 9780688075668
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 363