Let's take another trip back to the Old Weird America of the nineteenth century. I first came across Poor Mary Pomeroy several years ago:
Since then, I have kept an eye out for other examples of this cheap true-crime literature. Poor Mary Pomeroy dates from the 1870s, but these three are all from the 1850s.
Startling, thrilling AND interesting! That's quite a narrative. Fanny Danforth's story also features cross-dressing (she disguises herself as a man to go to sea in search of her lover) and pirates.
These aren't "dime novels" and they aren't "penny dreadfuls" -- they're cheap and sensational, but they all make some claim to being non-fiction. Except for Disappointed Love! which claims to be both FACT and FICTION!
I also suspect that these items were originally part of the Levy Dime Novel Collection -- years ago the Fales curators interfiled some of the Levy collection with the Fales American collection. One interesting thing about the Levy Collection is that Mr. Levy emphasized "feminine literature," hence the presence of such fine examples of crime, adventure, and heartbreak about women.
They remind me an awful lot of made for TV movies.