A review by phoebemurtagh
The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson

dark informative mysterious slow-paced

4.25

An un- sensationalized account mostly focusing on the legal case around Lizzie Borden. I appreciated it's lack of melodrama and that it didn't try to push a theory, or even decide whether Miss Borden was the murderer. It comments extensively on the social factors of the press and contemporary opinions about the case, pointing out how Victorian upper class society struggled to imagine how one of its own - especially a woman - could be capable or even be accused of such a grisly crime, and how educated men and women tied themselves in knots trying not to admit to the country or themselves that there was the possibility that a daughter, sister, and friend like those in their own families could plausibly be just as capable of a brutal murder (of people uncomfortably similar to themselves) as any man.  Be prepared for a lot of Victorian court statements.
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