Review: See What I Have Done

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've read a couple of the Lizzie Borden nonfiction books; so I wanted to read this historical fiction about the case.

Turns out, I read this when it originally came out and somehow forgot I had! See what happens without Goodreads.

What really worked: the atmosphere. The feeling of three grown women trapped in a small house. Not "trapped" in the sense of "someone has locked you in somewhere," but, rather, trapped in the sense that for that time period, they had little or no options in life and all where tied to each other, tied to that house.

For Lizzie -- in her early thirties, and, for her time, something strange and other: an unmarried woman, a -- gasp -- spinster. Not a wife, not the "homemaker" in charge of the house, yes, a daughter, but an older daughter. No real options for work or education.

For her stepmother: yes, in charge of the house, yes, married, but with no children of her own and stepdaughters who called her "Mrs. Borden." Tensions around money. What power did she have, or not have? And what role did she have, with no children to take care of, no job, just a house to run, a house she shared with three adult women: Lizzie, her older sister Emma, and the maid, Bridget/Maggie.

For Maggie: an Irish immigrant, with literally no power, the servant in the house who does all the grunt work but where else can she go? What are her other options? Heck, they won't even call her by her own name. Instead, it's the name of a previous maid.

So I think this captured a world where grown women are sharing a common space and have neither the words nor the options to navigate that space.

Anyway. Murder.

Spoilers would be telling Schmidt addressed that, because it's why you're going to read the book, right? So yeah. Not doing it.








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