See What I Have Done

"Lizzie Borden took an ax

And gave her mother forty whacks

When she saw what she had done

She gave her father forty-one"

It's likely that you've already heard the story of Lizzy Borden, the Massachusetts woman accused of savagely murdering her father and stepmother with an ax in 1892.

See What I Have Done is a fictionalized retelling of the events surrounding the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden. The atmosphere of this book is rich, from the creak of floorboards overhead to the stickiness of a pear in Lizzie's hand, it isn't hard to imagine yourself inside this old wooden house in Fall River, amid the flickering light of kerosene lamps and the putrid smell of Mr. and Mrs. Borden's nude and bludgeoned bodies laid out on the dining-room table.

If you want to get an idea of what life might have been like in the Borden household, and like books that allow for a bit of imagination at the end, you should check out See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt.