Screaming At The Window

The tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the Prisoner of Poitiers

by R J Dent

Screaming At The Window (the tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the Prisoner of Poitiers) by R J Dent, is published in September 2024 by KERNPUNKT Press.

Screaming At The Window is the reconstruction and the retelling of a true case of imprisonment that took place at the end of the nineteenth century. Based on details and information reported in contemporaneous newspaper reports, Screaming at the Window is the true and tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the young woman who became known throughout France as The Prisoner of Poitiers (La Séquestrée de Poitiers).

Just before her twenty-fifth birthday, Blanche Monnier was imprisoned in an upstairs room by her mother and her brother. In May 1901, an anonymous letter alerted the police to the fact that Blanche, the daughter of Louise, an aristocratic mother and Ėmile, a former dean of the faculty of letters, was imprisoned in a dark room with padlocked shutters. According to the letter, Blanche had been imprisoned for twenty-five years. When the police found Blanche, she was half-starved, naked, sedated and screaming.

Part French history, part true crime study, part courtroom drama, Screaming At The Window is Blanche Monnier’s harrowing story.

Book details:

Title: Screaming At The Window

Subtitle: The tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the Prisoner of Poitiers

Author: R J Dent

Language: English

Format: Paperback

Genre: True Crime/French History

Publisher: KERNPUNKT Press

Publication Date: September 2024