What happened in the Borden house back in 1892? Who killed her father and Mrs. Borden? How did the killer get into a locked house? I don’t think many people are aware but Lizzie was acquitted of murder and lived out her life with her sister in a house called Maplecroft after the trial. But did Lizzie actually commit the murders? This book tells the story of what occurred inside the Borden house leading up to and after the murders.
I ran a program years back where all attendees read different accounts of the murders and basically re-tried Lizzie Borden. Based on the evidence we were pretty sure she did it, but weren’t sure we could have convicted her of murder; as happened in history. I was all set to read a great book about what “really” happened and all the rave reviews made me particularly excited to read this novel. I can’t help but be disappointed. Yes, you get insight (some fictionalized of course) of what life was like living with such a strict patriarch. Yes, you get insight into the personalities of the people living in the house (and Lizzie is not even slightly sympathetic, which seems true to life from accounts I have read) but the author never comes right out and says what happened that day. You can make assumptions, but it just seemed odd to me that the author left that key part of the narrative out. I wanted a description of how it all happened! I didn’t need ALL the gory details, but a timeline would have been appreciated.
