Dawson's novel gradually reveals that Edie's "crime" is actually her articulate, contradictory and assertive femininity. "I am not all sweetness and light" she insists, but it is her independent behaviour that ultimately stands trial, as Freddy becomes an increasingly enigmatic and questionable figure on the margins of the novel. Elegantly written and carefully researched, Fred and Edie is as passionate and assured as the tragic heroine it portrays. --Jerry Brotton

If the author intended Edie to come across as a strong women led astray by love and condemned by a misogynic society, then, at least in my opinion, she failed miserably. Edie is indeed a 'silly and vain' woman- although she spends most of the novel insisting that she is full of passion and a longing for independence, her actions do not give the reader any evidence of this. She may indeed have earnt more than her husband (something which she mentions incessantly throughout her flashbacks) and know a lot about fashion, but Edie is not a strong character. She spends the entire novel moping after Freddy, not allowing herelf (and thus by extension the reader) to think about anything else, something which quickly becomes boring, and issues which could have been interesting - abortion, the death penalty, the fear that men have of women's bodies - became boring and predictable as she repeated the same opinion over and over again.

This novel suffers from it's first person perspective- perhaps the reader would feel more sympathy for the couple if we were ever given any indication that Freddy cared about Edie or the fact that she is going to be hanged for his crime. There is also little character development- Edie ends the novel as lovesick and unquestioning of Freddy as she ever was, and it is quite disturbing how she suspects that she is pregnant, but allows herself to be hanged through sheer apathy.

I found myself longing, at the end of novel, to know the true story of Edie, simply because I refused to believe that the death of such a vapid woman could ever have inspired the public outcry that it does in this novel.