# Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis - Hardcover

by **Alexis Coe** (Author), **Sally Klann** (Illustrator)

**_Alice + Freda Forever_ is a gut-wrenching story of love, death, and the dangers of intolerance.**"--_**Bustle**_

In 1892, America was obsessed with a teenage murderess, but it wasn't her crime that shocked the nation--it was her motivation. Nineteen-year-old Alice Mitchell had planned to pass as a man in order to marry her seventeen-year-old fiancée Freda Ward, but when their love letters were discovered, they were forbidden from ever speaking again.

Freda adjusted to this fate with an ease that stunned a heartbroken Alice. Her desperation grew with each unanswered letter--and her father's razor soon went missing. On January 25, Alice publicly slashed her ex-fiancée's throat. Her same-sex love was deemed insane by her father that very night, and medical experts agreed: This was a dangerous and incurable perversion. As the courtroom was expanded to accommodate national interest, Alice spent months in jail--including the night that three of her fellow prisoners were lynched (an event which captured the attention of journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells). After a jury of "the finest men in Memphis" declared Alice insane, she was remanded to an asylum, where she died under mysterious circumstances just a few years later.

_Alice + Freda Forever_ recounts this tragic, real-life love story with over 100 illustrated love letters, maps, artifacts, historical documents, newspaper articles, courtroom proceedings, and intimate, domestic scenes.

### Author Biography

Alexis Coe has contributed to the _Atlantic_, _Slate_, the _Paris Review Daily_, the _Hairpin_, the _Los Angeles Review of Books_, _Modern Farmer_, and many others. She is a columnist at the _Awl_ and the _Toast_, and holds an MA in early twentieth-century American history. Before moving to San Francisco, Alexis was a research curator at the New York Public Library.

**Number of Pages:** 223

**Dimensions:** 1 x 9.3 x 6.1 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** August 01, 2014

**Award:** Cybils (2014)

**Award:** Independent Publisher Book Awards (2015)

## Details

- **Price:** 18.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 18.99 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis - Hardcover

---

> Source: [Smart supply deals](https://smartsupplydeals.com/products/alice-freda-forever-a-murder-in-memphis-hardcover)
> Updated: 2026-07-23