See What I Have Done ~ Sarah Schmidt

I will admit, The Borden Murders fascinate me (and you can read our blog post outlining what happened here). I think it’s mostly to do with how so many people, then and now, were convinced that the youngest daughter, Lizzie, had committed the murders but she was never proven to be guilty.

I was intrigued to see how Sarah Schmidt was going to write the murder and the aftermath in a way that made narrative sense and was something new. I’ve seen a couple retellings of the event, my favourite being The Lizzie Borden Chronicles starring Christina Ricci.

Schmidt has managed to write a completely original version of the events that took place on the days surrounding August 4th 1892. There are four important people in the events of the Borden Murders: Lizzie, the youngest daughter, Emma, the eldest daughter, Bridget, the maid and John, Lizzie and Emma’s uncle. Schmidt gives all three female characters a voice. However, instead of giving John a voice, Schmidt created a character, Benjamin, to tell an outsider’s perspective whilst also telling John’s side of the story.

I enjoyed this retelling and it somehow managed to be quite disturbing without describing the murders taking place. A large part of that was the writing of Lizzie and John. Both characters felt slightly wrong and creepy. It worked wonderfully in the narrative.

What surprised me about this novel was how little time that this novel took place over. Despite including flashbacks, the four different narratives only cover roughly three days. Having such a small time frame made the different narratives feel a little like highly detailed statements given to the police. I really enjoyed that subtle storytelling device.

I really enjoyed this book and a different imagining of the horrific events that took place in August 1892. It’s hard to explain what I liked about this book without spoiling what Schmidt imagined happened and who she thinks had murdered Abby and Andrew Borden. For that reason, I’m going to finish this review by saying that it’s a four-star read. 

C🌙