The Complete Works of Barbara OSullivan Author 1962-2016

Book excerpt: The The Irish Ordinary, (originally published under the title The Chiswick Villain), by Barbara Osullivan 2008, is a novel based on the story of James Ashley a Victorian criminal. Set in Whitechapel London and in Chiswick, West London in 1834 in a one year time span. James Ashley who is at the centre of the story, is a particularly colourful character who grew up in the poverty stricken East End of London as a Cockney who had only ever known poverty. James was born to be a villain, just like his father. When James Ashley meets up with Moll Raby in Newgate Prison a romance soon springs up between them. James and Moll, upon their release from Newgate Prison, pledge to set out to make their fortune, and they make a formidable pair as they set out to rob, fleece, deceive, and otherwise deprive the rich Chiswick folk of their worldly goods, in the most effective manner, using every trick in the book, sometimes in the most comical manner, but where they ever caught?