See What I Have Done

Starred review from May 8, 2017
Schmidt’s unforgettable debut brings a legendary American crime to eerie new life. Four narrators recount events surrounding the 1892 murders of Andrew and Abby Borden: Lizzie Borden; her older sister, Emma; and the family’s maid, Bridget Sullivan, are within the Massachusetts home in which the deaths occurred. The fourth, a young man known only as Benjamin, is a stranger to everyone in the family but the sisters’ maternal uncle, who is visiting at the time of the tragedy. Though their interpretations of events differ, all describe roiling tensions. The manipulative, nearly feral Lizzie is forever scarred by her mother’s early death, while Emma longs for an artistic life uncomplicated by her sister’s outsized presence. Their relationship with their father and stepmother is fractured: Andrew Borden is a miserly, abusive man who thinks nothing of beheading the pet pigeons Lizzie loves, and his second wife, Abby, has never gained her stepdaughters’ trust. On August 4, family conflicts erupt in a chain of events that is as intricate as it is violent. Equally compelling as a whodunit, “whydunit,” and historical novel, the book honors known facts yet fearlessly claims its own striking vision. Even before the murders, the Bordens’ cruel, claustrophobic lives are not easy to visit, but from them Schmidt has crafted a profoundly vivid and convincing fictional world. Agent: Dan Lazar, Writers House.

Narrators Erin Hunter, Garrick Hagon, and Jennifer Woodward perform this new imagining of the woeful tale of Lizzie Borden with pathos and empathy. The investigation of murderer Lizzie Borden's home life before she killed her parents is told from multiple perspectives by Lizzie; her older sister, Emma; the housemaid, Bridget; and a mysterious stranger named Benjamin, all ably portrayed by this talented team. Most harrowing is the portrayal of the murder scene, with the oppressive summer heat and the gruesome sights and sounds of the scene. The narrators aid the investigation of the dysfunctional family with perfect pacing and dramatic pauses for a story that features more questions than answers. R.O. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine