Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018
'Schmidt's portrayal of Lizzie is haunting and complex,a deeply psychological portrait that forces the reader to question their preconceptions about what women are capable of - for better and worse. Both disturbing and gripping,it is an outstanding debut novel about love,death and the lifelong repercussions of unresolved grief.'- Observer
Just after 11am on 4th August 1892,the bodies of Andrew and Abby Borden are discovered. He's found on the sitting room sofa,she upstairs on the bedroom floor,both murdered with an axe.
It is younger daughter Lizzie who is first on the scene,so it is Lizzie who the police first question,but there are others in the household with stories to tell: older sister Emma,Irish maid Bridget,the girls'Uncle John,and a boy who knows more than anyone realises.
In a dazzlingly original and chilling reimagining of this most notorious of unsolved mysteries,Sarah Schmidt opens the door to the Borden home and leads us into its murkiest corners,where jealousies,slow-brewed rivalries and the darkest of thoughts reside.
Publisher: Headline Publishing GroupISBN: 9781472240873Number of pages: 352Weight: 240 gDimensions: 196 x 128 x 28 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'A disquieting read... I loved it'- The Times
'This startlingly potent novel isn't so much a straightforward whodunit as a portrait of a dysfunctional household from which the emotionally arrested Lizzie emerges as the novel's most unsettling character'- Metro
'Schmidt's portrayal of Lizzie is haunting and complex,a deeply psychological portrait that forces the reader to question their preconceptions about what women are capable of - for better and worse. Both disturbing and gripping,it is an outstanding debut novel about love,death and the lifelong repercussions of unresolved grief.'- Observer
'(A) seminal voice of the future.... a dark,dense visceral ride that proves that this former librarian could be on course to become one of the breakout writers of the decade... Donna Tartt,make room'- Stylist
'Eerie and compelling,Sarah Schmidt breathes such life into the terrible,twisted tale of Lizzie Borden and her family,she makes it impossible to look away'- Paula Hawkins
'Lizzie Borden and her axe have fascinated since 1892,and this incredible reimagining is one you'll never ever forget'- Heat
'Sarah Schmidt's reimagining of the fatal events in the Borden household is dignified and sensual,as though Henry James had decided to tell the tale'- Sunday Express
'Schmidt is especially good at the sweltering claustrophobia in which the Bordens lived. She is also great at portraying the pent-up frustration of the spinster Borden sisters'- Sunday Independent
'Schmidt's unusual combination of narrative suppression and splurge makes for a surprising,nastily effective debut'- Guardian
'Intense,unsettling and macabre'- Sunday Mirror
'She skilfully evokes the claustrophobic atmosphere of the household,conjuring up the rottenness of the family's relationships'- Sunday Times
'A claustrophobic,absolutely visceral novel that,like the walls of that unhappy house,leaves a stain long after the final page'- Red Magazine
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