Parker & Hulme

Book excerpt: Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker were teenagers in New Zealand, ages 15 and 16, when in June 1954 they killed Pauline's mother. The murder resulted in a sensational court case, extensive local and international media coverage, and a public association of lesbianism with "evil", "insanity", and extreme violence. In 1991, two New Zealanders published Parker & Hulme: A Lesbian View. By zeroing in on the circumstances and significance of the case beyond the "mad" or "bad" sound bites bandied about almost 40 years earlier, the authors exposed the issues of sexuality and social control - classism, homophobia, racism - within which the headlines were mired. After the release of Heavenly Creatures - the successful movie based on the murder case - Juliet Hulme was "outed" as the well-known mystery writer Ann Perry, alive and well and living in Scotland. A second furor erupted, as the now 56-year-old Hulme/Perry disclaimed any memory of a lesbian involvement with her cohort.