Lizzie Borden [Mass Market Paperback]

Elizabeth Engstrom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1992

A speculative recreation of the famous crime follows young Lizzie Borden as she deals with her stepmother's avarice, her father's suffocating love, and her sister's emotional blackmail. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Elizabeth Engstrom's Lizzie Borden is not a true crime book, but rather an exquisitely crafted novel about a bright young woman whose filial love is strained to the limits by poverty and the desire to break free of a stifling family. The central characters, the oppressive summer heat, and the floor plan are drawn from the 1892 Massachusetts case in which Lizzie Borden was tried for the presumed hatchet murders (the weapon was never found) of her father and stepmother, and acquitted of the crime. But the personalities and motivations of the characters are the author's own invention. As she puts it, "My purpose is not to offend; it is to justify." And justify she does--if violence is ever justifiable--as we learn of the peculiar architecture, both physical and psychological, of a family whose every movement seems designed to torment poor Lizzie. This is a grim, alluring, and vividly sexual story. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In Engstrom's fictional treatment of the famous Lizzie Borden murder case of 1892--in which Lizzie allegedly kills both her parents but is acquitted--every door in the Borden house in Fall River, Mass., is metaphorically locked, and each room holds the terrible secrets of its occupant. Emma, Lizzie's older sister, wracked by uncontrollable rages, periodically flees to New Bedford to assuage her surreptitious appetites for sex, drink and violence. Paterfamilias Andrew Borden, tyrannical and penurious in equal measure, loves nothing but money (which he hoards obsessively), concealing his sinful thoughts and acts from his obese second wife, Abby. Lizzie appears to be a serene young woman, but only because, in the author's view, she has repressed another self--angry and long denied, it burns to emerge. At first Engstrom ( Black Ambrosia ) skillfully and subtly builds a psychological plot, moving the reader inexorably toward the anticipated savage denouement. But the very same restraint and innuendo used to good effect in the novel's early portions ill serve the final bloodbath, which approaches anticlimax. Engstrom's supernatural solution to a crime so inimitably real is a cop-out.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (August 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812505913
• ISBN-13: 978-0812505917
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,586,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth (Liz) Engstrom grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois (a Chicago suburb where she lived with her father) and Kaysville, Utah (north of Salt Lake City, where she lived with her mother). After graduating from high school in Illinois, she ventured west in a serious search for acceptable weather, eventually settling in Honolulu. She attended college and worked as an advertising copywriter.

After eight years on Oahu, she moved to Maui, found a business partner and opened an advertising agency. One husband, two children and five years later, she sold the agency to her partner and had enough seed money to try her hand at full time fiction writing, her lifelong dream. With the help of her mentor, science fiction great Theodore Sturgeon, When Darkness Loves Us was published.

Engstrom moved to Eugene, Oregon in 1986, where she lives with her husband Al Cratty, the legendary muskie fisherman, and their Duck Tolling Retriever, Jook. Liz holds a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing and a Master of Arts in Applied Theology, both from Marylhurst University. A recluse at heart, she still emerges into public occasionally to speak at a writers conference, or to teach a class on various aspects of writing the novel, essay, article or short story. An avid knitter and gardener, she is on faculty at the University of Phoenix and is always working on the next book. Learn more at www.elizabethengstrom.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars intruiging and original explanation, May 9, 1999

By A Customer

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This review is from: Lizzie Borden (Paperback)

Before reading this book, I had just read Arnold Brown's factual account. Ms. Engstrom did her research down to the details and those that differed I assume she changed for the sake of the story. I always find it intruiging to imagine what may have gone on in the minds of actual people, to delve deeper into a true story in my own imagination. Since we know so little about the Bordens other than what came out at the murder trial, I found this novelization interesting and entirely in keeping with the picture the actual testimony presented of the various people, while at the same time rounding them out and making them human. Andrew Borden has been called a "despicable miser", but this author shows him as a man with feelings, good and bad. Emma, Lizzie's sister, is made into a dynamic character rather than a nonentity. And while there is no indication Lizzie ever had a friend such as Beatrice, the book points out the dangers of dabbling in the unknown (here, definitely the occult) without knowing what one is doing, as a person can lose control over what is happening. I dont want to give away anything, but Lizzie's experience's are not brought on or controlled by her, but arise spontaneously. As anyone who has had it happen will know, this can be pretty scary. I thnk Ms. Engstrom must have at one time or another to describe the feelings so accurately and I recommend this book for anyone interested in the case, just to get another slant on things.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very clever, absorbing fictionalization, September 8, 2000

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This review is from: Lizzie Borden (Paperback)

Loved it, couldn't put it down. Fascinating format puts you in each family member's head individually; especially interesting when one member's perspectives are explained or contradicted by the other. The characterizations are excellent and memorable. Part horror novel, part mystery, part psychological drama -- and completely recommended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an interesting read, December 22, 1997

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This review is from: Lizzie Borden (Paperback)

Having been like alot of you, I've been fascinated with Lizzie Borden since Elizabeth Montgomery so aptly portrayed her in the movie. The movie, like the actual case, left us with many unanswered questions. Ms. Engstrom has cleverly filled in the missing parts of the story. According to the author, she has done much research of the case, therefore, her rendering is fairly believable. Do I believe everything she endeavored to answer? No. But her attempts are plausible. I would like to know what facts she discovered to reach her conclusions and what are really facts and what is the author's imagination. If you are interested in this bizzare case, you will enjoy this novel.