the trial of lizzie borden by cara robertson

“A fascinating social history.” -Mary Higgins Clark, bestselling author of I’ve Got My Eyes on You

By giving us Fall River, Massachusetts, in full and in context, as well as the panoply of characters who made the trial so sensational, Robertson has written that rarest of things: a page-turner with a point.' -Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America 'With deft storytelling and convincing scholarship, Cara Robertson does the seemingly impossible by bringing new life to perhaps our oldest true-crime saga: the Gilded Age case of Lizzie Borden. The reader is to serve as judge and jury.” -Parul Sehgal, The New York Times

“Enthralling… reopens the case and presents the evidence afresh, all those alluring details out of an Agatha Christie novel (the mystery of Lizzie’s burned dress, the curious disappearance of a hatchet handle). This “remarkable” ( Bustle) book “should be at the top of your reading list” ( PopSugar). Based on transcripts of the Borden legal proceedings, contemporary newspaper accounts, unpublished local accounts, and recently unearthed letters from Lizzie herself, The Trial of Lizzie Borden is “a fast-paced, page-turning read” ( Booklist, starred review) that offers a window into America in the Gilded Age. In contrast, “Cara Robertson presents the story with the thoroughness one expects from an attorney…Fans of crime novels will love it” ( Kirkus Reviews). Told and retold in every conceivable genre, the murders have secured a place in the American pantheon of mythic horror. Was she a cold-blooded murderess or an unjustly persecuted lady? Did she or didn’t she?Īn essential piece of American mythology, the popular fascination with the Borden murders has endured for more than one hundred years. Everyone-rich and poor, suffragists and social conservatives, legal scholars, and laypeople-had an opinion about Lizzie Borden’s guilt or innocence. The defendant was relentlessly scrutinized for signs of guilt or innocence. Well-known columnists took up conspicuous seats in the courtroom. When Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally hacked to death in Fall River, Massachusetts, in August 1892, the arrest of the couple’s younger daughter Lizzie turned the case into international news and her murder trial into a spectacle unparalleled in American history. Based on twenty years of research and recently unearthed evidence, this true crime and legal history is the “definitive account to date of one of America’s most notorious and enduring murder mysteries” ( Publishers Weekly, starred review). In Cara Robertson’s “enthralling new book,” The Trial of Lizzie Borden, “the reader is to serve as judge and jury” ( The New York Times). WINNER OF THE NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY BOOK AWARD

The trial of lizzie borden by cara robertson