REVIEW: Lizzie by Diane Fanning

Late one summer morning in 1892, a prominent businessman and his second wife were brutally murdered with an axe in their own home. One of the man’s two daughters was charged with his murder. The trial was a circus. The outcome was controversial. What actually happened in that home? This work of fiction imagines the thinking and fear that drove the killer to that extreme act of cruelty. 

Review: 

I’m a huge lover of pseudo-historical novels — ones that attempt to fill in the blanks, subvert a story that was marred by historical biases, offer a fresh perspective or just take inspiration from our own histories. Lizzie delves into the story of Lizzie Andrew Borden, a tale that has captivated history and true crime fans around the world and sparks a debate: was she a scapegoat, a murderer, or something more complicated?

Lizzie attempts to answer the not if she was a killer, but why? Fanning fills in the gaps with her own ideas of what really happened not just that one night, but in the carnage that follows. 

Fanning tries to look underneath the sensationalist coverage and fear mongering at the time to give us one interpretation of Lizzie’s crime and punishment - but also using her to explore 19th century society and its vilification of women.

"I am considered too delicate to hear the doctors testimony about the axe splitting an imaginary skill, yet they think I am indelicate enough to plunge that same weapon into my living father ten or eleven times?"

While I appreciate blurring the line between reality and fiction, something that often happens in real life cases like Lizzies, there was something jarring about the way it was presented in this book - but it was clearly researched in the factual elements and had many hours of wondering and speculation behind it with plenty of intricate details that really set the scene and allow the reader to understand the nuance of the situation.

The shift in narrative styles was a little lackadaisical, it sometimes reading like a biography and other times as a work of fiction- sometimes just facts and statements, then vivid scenes and descriptions. I appreciated the effort behind trying to merge the truth with ideas to create a narrative, but this felt somewhere in between that didn't quite work for me. 

"He walked his bustling street passing by four homes, a restaurant, stables, a photography studio, a liquor store, a wholesale produce business, a carriage trimmer a plumbing company and a machine shop. Turning left and down one block further he reached Main Street." 

As for Lizzie herself, for a large part of the book she felt 2D, largely a stereotype of the wealthy spoiled spinster girl without any real motivation or thought, very much a repeat of how she was reported by media at the time, but she was slowly developed into her own person with a conviction for women’s rights and her own opinions. I loved how Fanning tried to access her relationships with her sister and distant relatives at the time to see how they could’ve influenced her life, how they reacted to the trial, and if she would've really told anyone the truth. 

"'Really Emma,' Lizzie said, 'men have been doing that to unwanted daughters and wives for quite some time. We are lucky we escaped that fate.'"

It was deeply emotional at times between the law and lots of talking and I enjoyed the fact the book actually continued into the aftermath of the trial, showing that Lizzie is more than a court case, a scandal but it did seem to meander afterwards and lost it’s depth and pace. Despite the mildly confusing mash of styles, any history and true crime buffs will definitely find this an interesting read. 

⭐⭐

• Lizzie will be available from 11th March with Level Best Books.
• I received a reviewers copy of this title.