Mad or Bad?: The Exploits of Amy Bock 1859-1943

by Jenny Coleman

Amy Bock's life has been the inspiration for plays, books, a TV program, music, poems, an exhibition and more, but Mad or Bad? is the first comprehensive biography. And while Amy gained notoriety as a daring, duplicitous and talked-about con artist who impersonated a man and married an unsuspecting woman, in this book the author shows how her story was not a straightforward case of fraud and misrepresentation.

Genres: Nonfiction

382 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2010

Reviews

[Cheryl Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I knew a little about Amy Bock, this book revealed a side of her I had not known.

It’s a fascinating read about an extremely clever woman, who, in spite of having various portable skills chooses crime to earn her living.

Is she driven to it as a challenge? Does she have an urge to spend, has she inherited a kind of mania?

Coleman has applied her considerable research skills to present a full account of Bock’s life. I was particularly interested in her teaching days in Australia and her many letters to the education board, and her days around the South Island of New Zealand, where there are familiar place and business names. It was good to learn about her days in Taranaki, post prison.

A readable, fascinating story about a complex woman.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amy Bock was an early New Zealand con-artist (who amongst other things posed as an affulent male farmer, "Percy Redwood", to marry a wealthy woman), and this book is a meticulously researched and interesting account of her life and exploits. Well worth a read.