Early Review: The Borden Murders by Sarah Miller

Title: The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century

Author: Sarah Miller

Publication Date: 01.12.2016

Series: N/A

Source:  ARC from publisher

Rating: 4 Stars

Summary (from Goodreads):

Here’s middle-grade nonfiction that reads like a thriller. With murder, court battles, and sensational newspaper headlines, the story of Lizzie Borden is compulsively readable and perfect for the Common Core.

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

In a compelling, linear narrative, Miller takes readers along as she investigates a brutal crime: the August 4, 1892, murders of wealthy and prominent Andrew and Abby Borden. The accused? Mild-mannered and highly respected Lizzie Borden, daughter of Andrew and stepdaughter of Abby. Most of what is known about Lizzie’s arrest and subsequent trial (and acquittal) comes from sensationalized newspaper reports; as Miller sorts fact from fiction, and as a legal battle gets under way, a gripping portrait of a woman and a town emerges. 

Review:

Oh, Lizzy. Lizzy, Lizzy, Lizzy. Such a troubled girl you are.

If you’re not familiar with the Lizzy Borden story (trial, history, scandal, whatever you want to call it) and want a disturbingly fun, fast read, then go grab THE BORDEN MURDERS. The story of Lizzy Borden sounds like fiction—a young woman hacks her parents to death with an axe? Especially in a time where murders were a rarity and most often perpetrated by men.

Lizzy Borden became a household name and her legend lives on in this book. It’s eerily fascinating to read it and Sarah Miller approaches the subject in such a factual but captivating way. You would think this book wouldn’t be geared towards Middle Grade readers, but it’s historical account of one of the most disturbing murders in US History is what makes it a great read for them.

As long as they don’t use Lizzy as a role model, that is.