See What I Have Done

by Sarah Schmidt

Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother forty whacks
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

Or did she?

In this riveting debut novel, See What I Have Done, Sarah Schmidt recasts one of the most fascinating murder cases of all time into an intimate story of a volatile household and a family devoid of love.

On the morning of August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden calls out to her maid: Someone's killed Father. The brutal ax-murder of Andrew and Abby Borden in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, leaves little evidence and many unanswered questions. While neighbors struggle to understand why anyone would want to harm the respected Bordens, those close to the family have a different tale to tell--of a father with an explosive temper; a spiteful stepmother; and two spinster sisters, with a bond even stronger than blood, desperate for their independence.

As the police search for clues, Emma comforts an increasingly distraught Lizzie whose memories of that morning flash in scattered fragments. Had she been in the barn or the pear arbor to escape the stifling heat of the house? When did she last speak to her stepmother? Were they really gone and would everything be better now? Shifting among the perspectives of the unreliable Lizzie, her older sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, and the enigmatic stranger Benjamin, the events of that fateful day are slowly revealed through a high-wire feat of storytelling.

• ISBN10: 080218913X
• ISBN13: 9780802189134
• Publish Date: 1 August 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 324
• Language: English

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight 2.5*

I won't lie, I am pretty fascinated by the Lizzie Borden case. I think the fact that it has been unsolved, and probably will forever remain as such that makes it so compelling. And fiction based on the case has always been of interest to me, because I love to read different authors' takes on what may have happened. To read different accounts of who Lizzie might have been, who her family might have been. The psychology surrounding the case is endlessly intriguing, and makes for a pretty great read.

In this particular Lizzie Borden book, we see the perspectives from several of the key players in the case. They're shown mainly in flashback form, both leading up to the murders and afterward. I enjoyed the varying perspectives, as they kept the mystery going. It was also interesting how the author portrayed Lizzie- which I won't get into because that would be spoilery.

The main problem I had with the book is that it often seemed quite slow. There were large chunks that I felt like nothing was really being revealed, nothing was happening.

Bottom Line: While I enjoyed getting into the minds of some of the players in the Borden case, I do wish the stakes had seemed higher, that there had been more revelations.

**Copy provided by publisher for review