Lizzie Borden

by Elizabeth Engstrom

Book Overview

"Lizzie Borden took an axe . . ". Or did she? One hundred years ago, Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally murdered. Their youngest daughter Lizzie was arrested and tried for the killings and--shockingly to many--was found innocent.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812505913
• ISBN13: 9780812505917
• Release Date: August 1992
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

My first Lizzie experience

This was the first book I read about Lizzie Borden and I loved it! Ever since this book (though it may be considered fictional) I have thought of Lizzie in an entirely new light. I truly believe this emotional and physchological approach could have been real in Lizzie's case. It makes me more sympathetic and understanding when I think about her. Taking a trip to the actual house in Fall River MA, this book was echoing in the back of my mind. I could see, in person, some of the places that the author described. Taking this author's input and putting it into your own thoughts about this case surely will make a difference on how you will see the murder case!

at the scence of the crime

i read the lizzie borden book and i felt like i was there b/c it kept u off the edge of ur seat and never let u off any other detail it always had u there and let you feel like u weere bridget or whoever and i felt that way i recommned this book becasue it is a good book if u like crimes but i dont like killing and i still liked so but it is all about this girl that hated her parents and they were rich and wealthy but were cheap and they always ate mutton like old sheep so then lizzie decided to kill her parents when she does she tells every1 else that she didnt do it like anyother crimneal would and then in the end she gets caught goes to jail and now the house they are living in is a bed and brakfast bye bye bye and i hope this helped out people

Very clever, absorbing fictionalization

Loved it, couldn't put it down. Fascinating format puts you in each family member's head individually; especially interesting when one member's perspectives are explained or contradicted by the other. The characterizations are excellent and memorable. Part horror novel, part mystery, part psychological drama -- and completely recommended.

An amazing read

I really loved this book. I was really interested and really famillar with the Lizzie Borden case way before I had even heard of this book. I hadn't even thought that there was a fictional book written about her. I went searching one day and I bought this book. I couldn't put the book down it was so interesting. I read it non stop for three days and when I was finished I was exausted from not sleeeping, but I was satisfied. Plus if you like suprise endings you'll love the ending in this book. I heard some where that there is three parts to a story, a beginning a climax and an ending. Ms. Engstrom's book has a beginning a climax and another climax/ending. Very exciting!

intruiging and original explanation

Before reading this book, I had just read Arnold Brown's factual account. Ms. Engstrom did her research down to the details and those that differed I assume she changed for the sake of the story. I always find it intruiging to imagine what may have gone on in the minds of actual people, to delve deeper into a true story in my own imagination. Since we know so little about the Bordens other than what came out at the murder trial, I found this novelization interesting and entirely in keeping with the picture the actual testimony presented of the various people, while at the same time rounding them out and making them human. Andrew Borden has been called a "despicable miser", but this author shows him as a man with feelings, good and bad. Emma, Lizzie's sister, is made into a dynamic character rather than a nonentity. And while there is no indication Lizzie ever had a friend such as Beatrice, the book points out the dangers of dabbling in the unknown (here, definitely the occult) without knowing what one is doing, as a person can lose control over what is happening. I dont want to give away anything, but Lizzie's experience's are not brought on or controlled by her, but arise spontaneously. As anyone who has had it happen will know, this can be pretty scary. I thnk Ms. Engstrom must have at one time or another to describe the feelings so accurately and I recommend this book for anyone interested in the case, just to get another slant on things.