Who is the Real Joan Hannington, and Where Can You Find Her Memoir?
Sophie Turner is set to play the notorious British jewel thief Joan Hannington in the upcoming CW series Joan (premiering Oct. 2 at 9pm EST). But if you’re curious to know about the real Joan Hannington beforehand, you can check out her memoir from your local library! As it’s been out of print for a while, a hard copy of your own might be hard to track down. Luckily, it’s being re-published at the end of October, and you can pre-order it here.
The series runs pretty close to the events portrayed in the memoir, although the brutal violence of her childhood is not featured heavily, probably because it’s a CW show (and it’s quite gruesome). Set in the 1980s, it’s a colorful feast for the eyes, and it’s fun to watch Sophie Turner’s Joan outsmart some of the men who don’t take her seriously. But what was her real-life story?
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Born in a low-income area of London to an abusive, alcoholic father, Joan’s life was not easy. She and her siblings struggled mightily to live in the chaos and violence their dad inflicted upon them, and in her early teens Joan ran away. By the time she was 17, she’d given birth to a child with her then-husband, a criminal who also had addiction problems — repeating the cycle of her own upbringing. After a few years, she made the difficult decision to leave.
Desperate, penniless, and on the run from some dangerous people who were after her husband, Joan went to Social Services for help. There, she was advised to leave her daughter, a decision that she believed was temporary and one she would come to regret. She got a job at a jewelry store, where she had the idea to start stealing, swallowing some loose jewels — something she’d end up doing a lot in her adulthood, in order to create a better life for herself and her daughter. At a time when most of her peers were in college or purchasing homes, Joan embarked on a life of crime that would lead her to become one of the most notorious jewel thieves in the UK.
To learn the whole sordid tale, read her memoir, or check out the new series on Oct. 2.
