Review: The Secrets of Lizzie Borden

The Secrets of Lizzie Borden

by Brandy Purdy

Why did you choose this book? I have always been intrigued by Lizzie Borden

When did you read this book? January 2016

Who should read this book? readers of historical fiction or crime stories

Source: Brandy Purdy (the author)

Here is a synopsis of The Secrets of Lizzie Borden from Goodreads

In her enthralling, richly imagined new novel, Brandy Purdy, author of The Ripper’s Wife, creates a compelling portrait of the real, complex woman behind an unthinkable crime. Lizzie Borden should be one of the most fortunate young women in Fall River, Massachusetts. Her wealthy father could easily afford to provide his daughters with fashionable clothes, travel, and a rich, cultured life. Instead, haunted by the ghost of childhood poverty, he forces Lizzie and her sister, Emma, to live frugally, denying them the simplest modern conveniences. Suitors and socializing are discouraged, as her father views all gentleman callers as fortune hunters. Lonely and deeply unhappy, Lizzie stifles her frustration, dreaming of the freedom that will come with her eventual inheritance. But soon, even that chance of future independence seems about to be ripped away. And on a stifling August day in 1892, Lizzie’s long-simmering anger finally explodes… Vividly written and thought-provoking, The Secrets of Lizzie Borden explores the fascinating events behind a crime that continues to grip the public imagination—a story of how thwarted desires and desperate rage could turn a dutiful daughter into a notorious killer.

My Review

I picked this one up for a few reasons. The Lizzie Borden story has always intrigued me; did she or didn’t she? Also, I had previously read and enjoyed The Ripper’s Wife by the same autho, so when she offered me a review copy of her book, of course I said YES! This one was not a disappointment. I enjoyed The Ripper’s Wife very much, but I liked this one even more!

I want to start by saying that there are a few readers who should bypass this one. If you are squeamish, be warned; there is a lot of blood in this book. If you prefer your novels ‘clean’, this one may not be what you are looking for; Lizzie enjoys sex and has a vivid imagination. If you expect a recounting of the known HISTORY of the story, you will probably want to look for a book tagged as nonfiction. If none of these things have dissuaded you, read on.

The author has taken what was known about the Lizzie Borden case and used her imagination to weave a story that was hard to put down! I really like how from the very beginning of the novel, we get inside Lizzie’s head and learn what motivates her and how she thinks. She is an interesting character and her interpretations and ability to rationalize her actions is fascinating.  She almost had me convinced her actions were justified!

Another thing I really like about this novel is the descriptive writing. The author paints pictures with her words. Here is one example from early in the book:

“I was beautiful only in my dreams, inspired by the romantic novels I devoured, where I dwelled in splendid castles and danced through life in my lover’s arms in sorbet- and candy-colored dresses of the latest Parisian fashion with my fiery red hair piled up in mounds and masses of curls entwined with silk ribbons, diamonds, and pearls.”

The characters themselves are not particularly likeable. Though I sympathized with Lizzie’s stepmother, Abby, her father was a cold, manipulative person, always in search of more money. Her older sister was also quite manipulative and a strong influence on Lizzie at a young age. It’s easy to see how Lizzie grew up to also be manipulative.

I think this would make a great selection for book clubs! Discussions might include Lizzie’s relationships with her parents and sister, the motivations for her actions, her ability to justify her actions, and many other topics!

About Brandy Purdy

Brandy Purdy (Emily Purdy in the UK) is the author of the historical novels THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON, THE BOLEYN WIFE (THE TUDOR WIFE), THE TUDOR THRONE (MARY & ELIZABETH), THE QUEEN’S PLEASURE (A COURT AFFAIR), THE QUEEN’S RIVALS (THE FALLEN QUEEN), THE BOLEYN BRIDE, and THE RIPPER’S WIFE. An ardent book lover since early childhood, she first became interested in history at the age of nine or ten years old when she read a book of ghost stories which contained a chapter about Anne Boleyn haunting the Tower of London. Visit her website at www.brandypurdy.com, you can also follow her on Facebook as Brandy Purdy aka Emily Purdy.

My Rating:  ★★★★     4 Stars

This book review is included in a tour by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. I was provided a copy by the author for review purposes.

Brandy’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, January 26

Review at Julz Reads

Review at Unshelfish

Wednesday, January 27

Review at Time 2 Read

Review at 100 Pages a Day

Thursday, January 28

Review at One Book Shy of a Full Shelf

Friday, January 29

Review at A Chick Who Reads

Interview at One Book Shy of a Full Shelf

Monday, February 1

Review at A Bookish Affair

Tuesday, February 2

Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Wednesday, February 3

Review at Broken Teepee

Thursday, February 4

Review at Book Lovers Paradise

Friday, February 5

Review at The True Book Addict

Monday, February 08

Review at Brooke Blogs

Tuesday, February 09

Review at Ageless Pages Reviews

Interview at Brooke Blogs

Wednesday, February 10

Review at A Literary Vacation

Thursday, February 11

Review A Book Geek

Friday, February 12

Review at History From a Women’s Perspective

On My Radar: September 2015

I’ve been really good about adding books to my ‘radar’ list, but I’ve been really crummy about sharing those books with you. With that in mind, it’s time to tell you about what’s ‘on my radar’. ‘On My Radar’ highlights books I’ve come across that seem especially interesting. These may be just released books or they may be older books I was not previously aware of, but either way, there is something about them that caught my eye. I haven’t decided if I will actually read these yet, but I do want to follow the reviews to see what others think. That’s why they are ON MY RADAR!

If you do a similar post, be sure to link it up below. Maybe I’ll find something else that should be on my radar. And if you do a review of any of the books here, please leave a link in the comments so I can see what you thought of it! It may help me decide what to read next!

Here are just a few of the many books that are currently ON MY RADAR...

A Train In Winter by Caroline Moorehead

They were teachers, students, chemists, writers, and housewives; a singer at the Paris Opera, a midwife, a dental surgeon. They distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, printed subversive newspapers, hid resisters, secreted Jews to safety, transported weapons, and conveyed clandestine messages. The youngest was a schoolgirl of fifteen who scrawled "V" for victory on the walls of her lycée; the eldest, a farmer's wife in her sixties who harbored escaped Allied airmen. Strangers to each other, hailing from villages and cities from across France, these brave women were united in hatred and defiance of their Nazi occupiers.

Eventually, the Gestapo hunted down 230 of these women and imprisoned them in a fort outside Paris. Separated from home and loved ones, these disparate individuals turned to one another, their common experience conquering divisions of age, education, profession, and class, as they found solace and strength in their deep affection and camaraderie.

In January 1943, they were sent to their final destination: Auschwitz. Only forty-nine would return to France.

A Train in Winter draws on interviews with these women and their families; German, French, and Polish archives; and documents held by World War II resistance organizations to uncover a dark chapter of history that offers an inspiring portrait of ordinary people, of bravery and survival—and of the remarkable, enduring power of female friendship.

The Beast’s Garden by Kate Forsyth

A retelling of The Beauty and The Beast set in Nazi Germany

The Grimm Brothers published a beautiful version of the Beauty & the Beast tale called ‘The Singing, Springing Lark' in 1819. It combines the well-known story of a daughter who marries a beast in order to save her father with another key fairy tale motif, the search for the lost bridegroom. In ‘The Singing, Springing Lark,' the daughter grows to love her beast but unwittingly betrays him and he is turned into a dove. She follows the trail of blood and white feathers he leaves behind him for seven years, and, when she loses the trail, seeks help from the sun, the moon, and the four winds. Eventually she battles an evil enchantress and saves her husband, breaking the enchantment and turning him back into a man.

Kate Forsyth retells this German fairy tale as an historical novel set in Germany during the Nazi regime. A young woman marries a Nazi officer in order to save her father, but hates and fears her new husband. Gradually she comes to realise that he is a good man at heart, and part of an underground resistance movement in Berlin called the Red Orchestra. However, her realisation comes too late. She has unwittingly betrayed him, and must find some way to rescue him and smuggle him out of the country before he is killed.

The Red Orchestra was a real-life organisation in Berlin, made up of artists, writers, diplomats and journalists, who passed on intelligence to the American embassy, distributed leaflets encouraging opposition to Hitler, and helped people in danger from the Nazis to escape the country. They were betrayed in 1942, and many of their number were executed.

The Beast's Garden is a compelling and beautiful love story, filled with drama and intrigue and heartbreak, taking place between 1938 and 1943, in Berlin, Germany.

The Sisters of Versailles by Sallie Christie

A sumptuous and sensual tale of power, romance, family, and betrayal centered around four sisters and one King. Carefully researched and ornately detailed, The Sisters of Versailles is the first book in an exciting new historical fiction trilogy about King Louis XV, France's most "well-beloved" monarch, and the women who shared his heart and his bed.

Goodness, but sisters are a thing to fear.

Set against the lavish backdrop of the French Court in the early years of the 18th century, The Sisters of Versailles is the extraordinary tale of the five Nesle sisters: Louise, Pauline, Diane, Hortense, and Marie-Anne, four of whom became mistresses to King Louis XV. Their scandalous story is stranger than fiction but true in every shocking, amusing, and heartbreaking detail.

Court intriguers are beginning to sense that young King Louis XV, after seven years of marriage, is tiring of his Polish wife. The race is on to find a mistress for the royal bed as various factions put their best foot - and women - forward. The King's scheming ministers push Louise, the eldest of the aristocratic Nesle sisters, into the arms of the King. Over the following decade, the four sisters:sweet, naive Louise; ambitious Pauline; complacent Diane, and cunning Marie Anne, will conspire, betray, suffer, and triumph in a desperate fight for both love and power.

In the tradition of The Other Boleyn Girl, The Sisters of Versailles is a clever, intelligent, and absorbing novel that historical fiction fans will devour. Based on meticulous research on a group of women never before written about in English, Sally Christie's stunning debut is a complex exploration of power and sisterhood; of the admiration, competition, and even hatred that can coexist within a family when the stakes are high enough.

The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati

The international bestselling author of Into the Wilderness makes her highly anticipated return with a remarkable epic about two female doctors in nineteenth-century New York and the transcendent power of courage and love…

The year is 1883, and in New York City, it’s a time of dizzying splendor, crushing poverty, and tremendous change. With the gravity-defying Brooklyn Bridge nearly complete and New York in the grips of anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, Anna Savard and her cousin Sophie—both graduates of the Woman’s Medical School—treat the city’s most vulnerable, even if doing so may put everything they’ve strived for in jeopardy.

Anna's work has placed her in the path of four children who have lost everything, just as she herself once had. Faced with their helplessness, Anna must make an unexpected choice between holding on to the pain of her past and letting love into her life.

For Sophie, an obstetrician and the orphaned daughter of free people of color, helping a desperate young mother forces her to grapple with the oath she took as a doctor—and thrusts her and Anna into the orbit of Anthony Comstock, a dangerous man who considers himself the enemy of everything indecent and of anyone who dares to defy him.

With its vivid depictions of old New York and its enormously appealing characters, The Gilded Hour is a captivating, emotionally gripping novel that proves Sara Donati is an author at the height of her powers.

The Secrets of Lizzie Borden by Brandy Purdy

In her enthralling, richly imagined new novel, Brandy Purdy, author of The Ripper’s Wife, creates a compelling portrait of the real, complex woman behind an unthinkable crime. Lizzie Borden should be one of the most fortunate young women in Fall River, Massachusetts. Her wealthy father could easily afford to provide his daughters with fashionable clothes, travel, and a rich, cultured life. Instead, haunted by the ghost of childhood poverty, he forces Lizzie and her sister, Emma, to live frugally, denying them the simplest modern conveniences. Suitors and socializing are discouraged, as her father views all gentleman callers as fortune hunters. Lonely and deeply unhappy, Lizzie stifles her frustration, dreaming of the freedom that will come with her eventual inheritance. But soon, even that chance of future independence seems about to be ripped away. And on a stifling August day in 1892, Lizzie’s long-simmering anger finally explodes… Vividly written and thought-provoking, The Secrets of Lizzie Borden explores the fascinating events behind a crime that continues to grip the public imagination—a story of how thwarted desires and desperate rage could turn a dutiful daughter into a notorious killer.

Review: The Ripper's Wife

The Ripper’s Wife

by Brandy Purdy

Why did you choose this book? I saw this reviews on several blogs and knew I would read it!

When did you read this book? November 2014

Who should read this book? readers of historical fiction

Source: review copy from author

Here is a synopsis of The Ripper’s Wife from Goodreads

It begins as a fairytale romance-a shipboard meeting in 1880 between vivacious Southern belle Florence Chandler and handsome English cotton broker James Maybrick. Courtship and a lavish wedding soon follow, and the couple settles into an affluent Liverpool suburb.

From the first, their marriage is doomed by lies. Florie, hardly the heiress her scheming mother portrayed, is treated as an outsider by fashionable English society. James's secrets are infinitely darker-he has a mistress, an arsenic addiction, and a vicious temper. But Florie has no inkling of her husband's depravity until she discovers his diary-and in it, a litany of bloody deeds...

My Review

Fact: Jack The Ripper murdered at least five women in 1888.

Fact: Florrie Maybrick was convicted of poisoning her husband, James, and served 15 year in prison.

Fact: A diary allegedly written by James Maybrick identifying himself as Jack the Ripper surfaced in 1992.

Brandy Purdy has taken these facts and woven a fantastic story of the marriage of Florrie Chandler to James Maybrick and of his secret life as Jack the Ripper. Many question the authenticity of the diary, but it makes for some great fiction! As anyone who reads my blog regularly knows, one thing that I expect from good historical fiction is that it compel me to google the story when I finish the book, in an effort to learn more about the people in the story. This one certainly did not fail me! In fact, I did not even wait for the end of the book, but googled periodically as new points came up! Of course it took me a little longer to finish the book this way, but it was worth it.

One thing that really surprised me is how relatively few murders Jack the Ripper is believed to be responsible for. I had heard of him, of course, and knew of the terror he caused, and I always assumed he’d murdered dozens of women. But in fact, he is only known to have killed five women, with two more murders possibly attributed to him.

I had never heard of James or Florrie Maybrick, but their story turned out to be quite sensational for it’s time. Her murder trial was front page news around the world. She was an American accused of murder in a foreign country, England, where she had never really been accepted into society. She had supporters who rallied behind her, demanding ‘justice’ for her, and working for her release after she was imprisoned. In some ways it made me think of the Amanda Knox story.

There are many events in this book that may or may not have really have taken place; historians don’t quite agree on that. But true or not, the book is a page turner, and you will learn a lot. One thing I really liked about the book is the attention to detail. The writing is detailed with wonderful descriptions of the surroundings and of Florrie’s thoughts.  However, this detailed writing does mean there is one thing I feel the need to mention; often times, especially when we are reading from James’ point of view, the language is vulgar, and the descriptions of the murders are gory and grotesque. Much of the facts are taken from the diary discovered in 1992 and news accounts of the time, and we are dealing with the thoughts of a sadistic murderer, so it is not really surprising to see this in a story of Jack the Ripper. Still, if this will bother you, I would suggest you pass on this book, and it is definitely not a book you want your younger teens reading! But if you are prepared for a graphic read, and you enjoy historical fiction, you definitely should have this one on your list!

(Oh....did I mention I LOVE the cover!!)

My Rating:  ★★★★1/2     4-1/2 Stars

I received a review copy of this book from the author. (Thank you, Brandy!)  My honest review appears above!

Tuesday Memes: The Ripper's Wife

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where you can share the first paragraph, or a few, of a book you are reading or thinking about reading soon.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Today I am spotlighting The Ripper’s Wife by Brandy Purdy

It begins as a fairytale romance — a shipboard meeting in 1880 between vivacious Southern belle Florence Chandler and handsome English cotton broker James Maybrick. Courtship and a lavish wedding soon follow, and the couple settles into an affluent Liverpool suburb.

From the first, their marriage is doomed by lies. Florie, hardly the heiress her scheming mother portrayed, is treated as an outsider by fashionable English society. James's secrets are infinitely darker-he has a mistress, an arsenic addiction, and a vicious temper. But Florie has no inkling of her husband's depravity until she discovers his diary-and in it, a litany of bloody deeds...

Opening Paragraph

OOOPSSS!!! I had the wrong intro here...sorry everyone. I'm not sure how that happened! Here is the corrected excerpt...

PROLOGUE

Love makes sane men mad and san turn a gentle man into a fiend.

On the outside it looks so innocent, just an old battered book, musty and dusty, nothing special at all. An ordinary diary bound in cardboard covered in rusty black cloth, corners bent andbumped like a quartet of bruised and broken noses, a tad frayed in places, like a curmudgeonly eyebrows grown wildly awry, chipped and fading gilt accents. Seven lucky gold bands adorn the spine. I chose it for that reason, because he, because we, believed in luck. You could walk into any stationery shop in the civilized world and find one just like it. I know: I'm the one who bought it.

My Teaser

    “Well...you do now,” she said with all the feigned smiling civility of a Borgia proffering a poisoned cup of wine, and, with a frigid nod and frozen smile, went out the door. And I was left alone, knowing that I had made an enemy and with no earthly idea what to do about it.

page 937

So...what do you think? Is this one you would pick up? Leave a comment below!

Waiting on Wednesday: The Ripper's Wife

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine in which we spotlight upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating!

The Ripper’s Wife

by Brandy Purdy

Expected Publication Date: October 28, 2014

Synopsis from Goodreads

It begins as a fairytale romance — a shipboard meeting in 1880 between vivacious Southern belle Florence Chandler and handsome English cotton broker James Maybrick. Courtship and a lavish wedding soon follow, and the couple settles into an affluent Liverpool suburb.

From the first, their marriage is doomed by lies. Florie, hardly the heiress her scheming mother portrayed, is treated as an outsider by fashionable English society. James's secrets are infinitely darker-he has a mistress, an arsenic addiction, and a vicious temper. But Florie has no inkling of her husband's depravity until she discovers his diary — and in it, a litany of bloody deeds...

Why I am waiting....

A fictional Jack the Ripper story….sounds interesting!