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Francis Stoner Saunders looks at the life of would be assassin Violet Gibson in The women who shot Mussolini
Francis Stoner Saunders’ The women who shot Mussolini resurrects Violet Gibson, the would be assassin of the Italian fascist dictator. In 1926, Violet, the daughter of Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne, managed to fire straight at Mussolini in Rome, hitting him in the nose.
While Mussolini’s wounds were bandaged quickly and he was able to continue his parade on the Capitoline, the repercussions for Violet Gibson were much more life consuming. After just missing out on being lynched by the angry fascist mob surrounding the parade, she was arrested and treated as criminally insane. She was later deported to Britain after being released without charge by Mussolini only to spend the rest of her life at a mental asylum in Northampton.
Francis Stoner Saunders’ book looks into the validity of the assumption of Violet Gibson’s insanity and her life after the incident that made her famous.
Unfortunately for Gibson, her attempt to kill Mussolini came in 1926 when Mussolini was in his pomp having made Italy’s trains run on time. Had she just waited ten years or so, she might have been venerated as a hero freedom fighter.
However, the reality is that her original intentions appear to have been to kill the Pope, but she changed her mind when she arrived in Italy. She had also attempted suicide with the same revolver the year before.
It’s clear from the book that Violet had mental health issues, so what follows is an investigation of her treatment at the mental asylum, evaluating her pleas to be moved to a convent and the reality of being ignored, both by her family and the trained professionals that were charged with her care.
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