The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson
Disclaimer: I have known the author, Cara Robinson, for a number of years. It has been an honor to talk with her about this case as well as topics related to the Lizzie Borden community. You might say I am biased here, but also know that after studying the case for over 40 years (off and on, of course, I am not obsessed!), I feel confident that I can speak about it in an educated manner.
The Trial of Lizzie Borden (Simon & Schuster, 2019) by Cara Robertson has been years in the making. Cara’s journey has been a long one, but well worth the effort.
A new book on Lizzie Borden that focuses on the facts of the case and covers the legal aspects of this most interesting crime is most welcomed, especially when it is penned by a person professionally trained as a lawyer and thus just the right person to take up the story in this vein.
The last real legal examination was Robert Sullivan’s Goodbye Lizzie Borden (Stephen Greene, 1974, Kirkus Review). The author was a former justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court. Truth be told, this was the first book I ever read on the case. It formed my logical sensibilities regarding an investigation into the Borden murders and, quite frankly, helped me to see the world of the case as a legal action—a fascinating one to be sure.
Perhaps Sullivan is also the reason why I so loudly decry the paranormal which surrounds this story today. The history and telling of this true event is more intriguing and captivating than any fear/fright/spooky falderal that has overtaken the modern selling of Lizzie Borden. I stayed in the Lizzie Borden B&B for the first time in July 1997, a year after the murder house opened to the public, and I can tell you I was scared there. Not because of ghosts, but because I was actually spending the night in a house where a double murder had taken place. That fact alone was enough to thrill and engage.
Cara Robertson’s telling of the case is remarkable and learned. She takes us down the rabbit hole of Lizzie Borden’s travails and deftly informs and delights us with her insight, knowledge, and expertise. Finally, a really good book on the case and one to recommend! Which I do, wholeheartedly.
So many of the Borden case books on the market really belong in the fiction section, Arnold Brown’s The Truth, The Legend, The Final Chapter chief among them. I look for footnotes or endnotes in a work of nonfiction. TELL me where to find that fact, that source of that quote or idea. Lead me further along the investigation. And Robertson’s book does just that. We clearly know from where she culled her quotes and images that illustrate the narrative. We can see how much care was taken to get it right.
I applaud this book and its author. I will admit that the book does not tell me anything new, as, like I said, I know the case intimately. But that doesn’t matter, because Robertson’s book is now a seminal and an accessible volume of the legal matters of the case that can be referred to again and again. It is in the telling that Robertson finds great success. She undertook this massive project and produced a well-written, interesting, accurate, and important book.
The Trial of Lizzie Borden is a must-own volume for anyone interested in the Lizzie Borden case. It has a prominent place on my bookshelf.
