This is a deep dark and very compelling read that stirred up extremely vivid images from the pages that I was reading. The brutal ax-murder of Andrew and Abby Borden in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, was a true event that occurred on 4th August 1892 and discovered by Andrew Borden’s youngest daughter Lizzie. In my younger days I skipped along with friends while we sang the song about this case. The whole thing was brutally violent and bizarre to say the least.
The events surrounding the case are told by four people, Lizzie and Emma, are spinster sisters and daughters of Andrew Borden, the housemaid Bridget and a stranger called Benjamin, a friend of the girls uncle John. This is not a household to be envied. It is cruel with a feel that it will never let its occupants leave. There is 9 years age difference between Emma and Lizzie, with Lizzie being in her early thirties but seem much younger. Bridget is bound by threats and a sense of needing justice for a wrong done to her. I never knew if I could trust Benjamin and his account of the facts he puts forward.
I loved the writing style of this author as in such a depressing house she brings it to life. The fear, the frustration, tastes and smells, the smallest details of textures along with the touch of madness that has been used to torment the sisters and maid in terrible ways. An aging father that still rules with intimidation and violence. The whole thing feels like it is a visual account that is just happening and not something in the past. I had a loathing for Andrew and Abby Borden and an uneasiness about the strange relationship that the two sisters had, something I felt that they would never give up and share or even talk about together but more of an understanding between them. To be honest they were darn weird, even shudder worthy weird.
A super debut novel that made a piece of history come to life and give the brain matter something to ponder about. Loved the time line in the back of the book that covered from September 1822 until 1948. If you want a bit of fact mixed with characters that have soul this really is a perfect read for you.

I think most everyone is at least somewhat familiar with Lizzie Borden, we’ve all heard the rhyme about what she allegedly did but I for one didn’t know much beyond that. When the opportunity to read See What I Have Done came to me I couldn’t resist, I love the idea of a historical retelling with added embellishments and Schmidt told the story of the Borden family in a haunting and unforgettable manner.

This is told from four different viewpoints and flashes back from the day of the murders to different, critical time periods as well. Lizzie, her sister Emma, Bridget the maid and Benjamin an unknown stranger all lend their voice to the story and I loved the birds eye type view this gave the book. Each character has a wholly unique and strong voice, from Lizzie with her childlike singsong behavior to Bridget the frustrated Irish maid, they all had their own version of events and were all equally captivating to me.

I honestly cannot believe that this is a debut, Schmidt’s writing style is SO gorgeous. That may seem strange given the subject matter of the book, but it really is beautiful, her descriptions are so vivid and yes, at times macabre but really well written. It was incredibly easy to conjure up a vision due to her prose, she truly brought this strange family to life in a dark, gloomy and unique way.

I have been wanting to read Sarah Schmidt's, 'See What I Have Done', from the first moment I saw it doing the rounds on social media back in May. Yes, it has been on my TBR pile that long! One thing I also noticed at the time was just how varied each readers opinions were. Of course, that made me even more curious to get stuck in.

Using events of a real life situation as inspiration, Sarah Schmidt has taken facts from the historic 'Lizzie Borden' case in 1892, and has put a personal spin on the storyline itself. Wikipedia states that Lizzie Borden was acquitted for the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, but who DID kill Lizzie's parents? Still an unsolved case 125 years later, a lot of people seem to reach their own conclusions on the double murder. Sarah Schmidt however, had her own ideas about what really went on that day, thus being the inspiration for this novel.

I have to admit; I hadn't heard of Lizzie Borden until the day I picked up 'See What I Have Done'. I had to spend a little while trawling through Google so that I had a rough idea of the situation itself. Not that I didn't trust the authors factual knowledge, don't get me wrong, but when it comes to historical based novels, I like to ensure I have some of the facts clear in my own head before I proceed.

I finished reading 'See What I Have Done' about ten minutes before I started writing this review as I wanted to keep everything fresh in my mind. I really don't know where my mind is with this book after all. I loved the authors literary skills and story telling - it was clear that Sarah Schmidt had done her research whilst also ensuring that she incorporated fiction alongside the facts to keep the reader interested. For me, the authors skills were the star of the show. I cannot fault the way in which the storyline was executed overall.

However, I found the content of the storyline incredibly difficult to gel with. Although, I guess having a theme of murder in a storyline isn't going to make you reaching for the party poppers, but you know what I mean (I hope). I really wanted to fall in love with this book, especially given the fact that historical fiction is one of my go to genres. But there was just something about the book which left me feeling as though I was missing something. What, I have no idea. I did fall in love with the authors words themselves though, does that count?!

Whilst 'See What I Have Done' didn't meet my expectations, the authors story telling and fantastic writing talent made the book come alive. Sarah Schmidt is exceptionally talented at her craft and I am rather looking forward to what she puts her pen to next.

Thanks Tinder Press.

I had little knowledge of Lizzie Borden and her family apart from the rhyme about her. Due to this I came into the book with an open mind and had no preconceptions about the murders.

The story starts with Lizzie screaming to the maid about how her father is very poorly and it transpires that he has been murdered in a very horrific way. After reading the first couple of pages I felt that Lizzie enjoyed seeing her dead father far too much so therefore was probably deeply involved in his murder, even if she didn’t commit it herself.

The story then follows the day before and of the murders from different people’s view points trying to find out who murdered Lizzie’s parents. With the different people’s view points also comes their thoughts and prejudices regarding each other, which I really liked as you could feel the tension between them all.

The story line and the way the book is written made it a very interesting read, which although hard at times, was also a very in depth look at the real life crime. I am sure that some parts of the book were made up using poetic licence but this didn’t take anything away from the story.

Even though the murder remains unsolved to do this day, I think it should be re-visited using modern methods as I reckon it would be solved really easily, especially if they used this book as a reference.

Overall I would give this book a solid 4 stars as I felt it was a bit gory and seemed a bit long winded in places I still enjoyed it.

I'm sure everyone is aware of Lizzie Borden. Or at least the rhyme that was created about the murders of her father and step mother. I have to admit that even though I knew of her, I actually knew very little of events surrounding the murders. If anything this book will have you googling up to find out more.

This is the authors take on what happened that day. The story itself flicks between different characters so you can get different view points to what life was like in the Borden household. I have to say it wasn't a very nice one. It felt very cold and even the characters I didn't really feel any warmth for. 

I actually felt in a way that I was descending into some sort of madness trying to get into Lizzie's head and to whether I believed she was capable or not and if not, then who else could it have been. 

I have to say I really enjoyed the bit at the back of the book where the author tells us how she came to write this story. The fact that she has been to the actual house where the murders took place and slept in Lizzie's bedroom was fascinating. It was interesting to hear that Lizzie kept coming to the author, in a way insisting that she told her story. Who knows, this could actually be Lizzie's own version of events. It's up to the reader to decide that for themselves.