Very well researched and engrossing, this was a book that would be great for book clubs. I learned things I never knew and it was very good.

This book seems to be very well researched. It is extremely informative and can be a bit technical at times. The court proceedings are described in great detail and gives the reader a very explicit view of the trial. I found the book to be slightly repetitive at times repeating much of the same information.

Fascinating in-depth exploration of one of the most mysterious cases in modern history. Not only did it show the trial in-depth, but it also painted a compelling portrait of the time and place in which it occurred. I had a wonderful conversation with Cara on the Secret Library and thoroughly enjoyed discussing her research process and the huge effort and several false starts it took to finish this book.

I have always held a fascination for the story of Lizzie Borden. She and this awful murder of her parents were the headlines across the country with everyone having their own ideas as to Lizzie's guilt or innocence.

In this book, through courtroom transcripts, accounts in the newspapers and even letter written by Lizzie herself, we see not only a picture of Lizzie but also one of the times. Lizzie was eventually acquitted, but even to this very day, there are many who still believe in her guilt.

This was an interesting book but at times I found myself a bit disinterested in the telling.

Thank you to Cara Robertson, Simon and Schuster, and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

I knew the story of Lizzie Borden before reading this book, but I didn't know many of the intricacies surrounding the murders and the trial. If you're looking for a thorough answer -- did Lizzie kill her father and stepmother, or was she innocent? -- you won't get one here, but you'll definitely feel like you have enough information to judge for yourself.

There have been many books, articles and films about Lizzie Borden. Most of them lean toward the sensational. This book is very different. The author carefully lays out the facts as they were presented to the police and district attorney. This allows the reader to come to their own conclusion about Lizzie Borden’s guilt or innocence. The trial itself is laid out in exceptional detail.

Pictures are included to help the reader have a frame of reference when reading the account of this fascinating case. For those interested in Lizzie Borden, this is a must read. If you want actual facts, don’t pass this book up for a sensational account. Read what really happened.


I received an ARC from Simon & Shuster through NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book.

This book was such an interesting look into the story and legend surrounding Lizzie Borden. I’ve always been so intrigued by this crime and trial and this book was perfect for that!

If you are a fan of true crime novels then The Trial of Lizzie Borden should be your next read. I must say upfront that I was not a fan overall of this book and only gave it ⭐️⭐️. There were tons of details and it was told in a very methodical manner, two qualities which might be exactly what you are looking for, but for me did not equate to an enjoyable experience that I would suggest to everyone. I left the book still wondering whether there was sufficient evidence to convict Lizzie and if the jury got it wrong or right. It also made me think how far society has come in a short amount of time and yet how stuck in a rut we can remain.

Most people are familiar with the Lizzie Borden and I was one of them so when I heard about this book I was really excited to get my hands on it!

The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robetson tells the true story of one of the most famous murder trials in American history. I did find a lot of the information in the book I had already read about but I loved that Robertson examines all aspects of the case... and leaves it up to you as the reader to make up your own mind about Lizzie and her guilt or innocence.
My favorite part was all of the photographs the author added to the book. Overall I was impressed and recommend it if you love true stories!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for giving me the opportunity to read and review this Ebook

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in return for my opinion.

What an interesting trip through one of the most fascinating trials in American history. I felt that the book was very balanced between the actual events and what the author feels happened. While there is no clear answer to who killed the Bordens, there is a ton of information about the trial.

I liked the history, the knowledge and all of the information provided. The coverage of the case is top notch.

“Oh, Mrs. Churchill, do come over. Someone has killed father.”

Lizzie Borden is the subject of one of America’s most enduring legends, and Robertson is a towering legal scholar, educated at Harvard and Oxford, and then at Stanford Law. She’s participated in an international tribunal dealing with war crimes, and has been researching the Borden case for twenty years. Here she lays it out for us, separating fact from innuendo, and known from unknown. My thanks go to Simon and Schuster and Net Galley for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

The Borden family lived in the heart of Fall River, and it consisted of Andrew, father of two grown but unmarried daughters Emma and Lizzie, still in residence, and his second wife, Abby. Their mother had died when Lizzie was tiny; Andrew had remarried a woman named Abby, whom Emma never accepted as a parent, but whom Lizzie called her mother until a short time before her grizzly death. Until this time the Borden household was well respected; Andrew was possibly the wealthiest individual in this Massachusetts town, but he was a tightfisted old scoundrel, and his refusal to relocate the family to the fashionable neighborhood on the hill where well-to-do citizens lived made his daughters bitter, as appropriate suitors would not call on them in their current home. Both had passed the age when respectable young women were expected to have married; they held that their father’s greed had ruined their chance at marriage and families of their own. Things had come to a head when Borden was persuaded to purchase the home in which Abby’s sister lived in order to prevent her from being cast out on the street. Emma and Lizzie were angry enough that they wouldn’t go downstairs when the parents were there, and poor Bridget, the servant, had to serve dinner twice to accommodate them. Everyone locked their bedroom doors against the others. Andrew had belatedly tried to smooth his stormy home life by purchasing a comparable house for each of his daughters, but the damage was done.

The story of Lizzie Borden is not a new one, but what sets Robertson’s telling apart from the rest—apart from the meticulous research and clarity of sourcing—is her explanation of how the cultural assumptions and expectations of 1893 New England differed from ours today, and how these nuances affected the trial. They lived in a time and place in which it was assumed that women were ruled far more by their hormones and ovulation than by intellect and reason. In fact:

“Experts like the influential Austrian criminal psychologist Hans Gross contended that menstruation lowered women’s resistance to forbidden impulses, opening the floodgates to a range of criminal behaviors…Menstruation may bring women to the most terrible crimes.”

Had Lizzie confessed to the killings, she might very well have been judged not guilty; her monthly cycle would have been said to have made her violent and there was nothing to be done about it, rather like a moose when rutting.

Criminal behavior was believed to be inherent in some people and not in others, and this counted in Lizzie’s favor. The Bordens were seen as a good family, and a girl from a good family doesn’t plot brutal murders. It isn’t in her. This sort of thing, experts said, was more likely to be done by a transient or a member of the working class. The women of Fall River were polarized around this case, and though women from comfortable homes were all certain that poor Lizzie was being railroaded, working class women weren’t as charitable in their assessments.

There was a ton of evidence against her, most of it circumstantial; the most damning aspects of the case against her were ruled inadmissible, and the jury never got to hear them.

Robertson is a fine storyteller, and her narrative lays it out for us so clearly. There is occasional gallows humor, as well as amusing bits of setting not seen in cities of any size today, such as the neighborhood cow that mooed near the courtroom window at inauspicious moments while testimony was being given. However, the first half of the book is more compelling than the second half, because prosecutors and attorneys must repeat things, sometimes many times and in many ways, in order to convince judges and juries, and since this book is about the trial, Robertson must do the same. Still it is fascinating to see how the whole trial shook out.

Those interested in the Borden case, or in true crime stories in general, should read this book. It’s the clearest, most complete recounting and analysis available to the public today, written by a legal scholar that has done the work and cut no corners. `

THE TRIAL OF LIZZIE BORDEN was a well-researched and interesting, but occasionally dry, true-crime exposé. I give it ⚒⚒⚒(3)/5 axes—too soon?
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To be honest, I knew nothing about the trial of Lizzie Borden before reading this book. But most of you probably know that in 1892, Lizzie Borden was accused and charged with murdering her father and stepmother with an axe. Pretty gruesome.
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This book focuses mostly on the trial and the sociological implications impacting it. Robertson delves deep into court documents and articles written about the trial: most of the book takes place within quotation marks. It felt a bit jarring to jump from quoted material to quoted material without original thought in between. And, from one attorney to another, you can tell Robertson was trying to avoid legalize in her writing...but it seemed like her main tool to combat stiff sentences was with a thesaurus, and that made the writing weirdly formal.
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Because I’m a law nerd, the part I found the most fascinating was the trial itself. Like how the defense lawyers wanted to avoid mentioning that Lizzie was on her period because it was common belief that menstruation led women to craziness that could result in murder (?!). Or how the actual skulls of Mr. and Mrs. Borden were used as props in the trial. That would NEVER happen today.

My recommendations: This book is for you if you liked well-researched nonfiction that’s on an interesting topic (pro-tip: I heard the audio book was fantastic). This book is not for you do you are true crime junkie that is looking for something to captivate you page by page.

This book is fascinating. I have always wondered about the case of Lizzie Borden and the murders of her father and step-mother. The author did an incredible job piecing together loads of evidence, as well as the trial transcript. Due to the level of detail, reading this in eBook format was a bit challenging. I am interested in owning a hard copy so that it is easier to turn back and examine photos.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the complimentary eGalley. All opinions are my own.

I knew going in that a book entitled The Trial of Lizzie Borden was going to be about, you know, the trial of Lizzie Borden, but I had no idea that it would be so detailed. Not being a lawyer or particularly interested in legal minutiae I had to struggle to finish this book. Recommended only if you're a serious trial junkie or really love legal history.

I received a digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley.

A very delayed review yes, but I found this to be a fantastic read. I love any and all historical novels, especially on lethal women such as Lizzie Borden. Cara Robertson did a wonderful job bringing the trial and Lizzie's world to life. I highly recommend this novel! I'll definitely re-read it this summer!

Everyone thinks they know all about Lizzie Borden, but Trial of Lizzie Borden delves into new area. Presenting the Borden family, and the view of women of the time, it is an interesting presentation of one of the biggest drama's of the 1800's. Did she or didn't she .... in reality only Lizzie knew and she never talked about that happened that famous day in the Borden house. This is a great read that should bring new readers to the perplexing question.

Fall River,Massachusetts 1892 it is a bustling town with the usual shops,churches and neighborly visits. Those who could afford it had servants and lived up on the hill. While the Borden family did have domestic help, an Irish woman named Bridget they did not live on the hill and Lizzie resented this. The household consisted on Andrew Borden,his second wife Abby Borden, his two spinster daughters Emma and Lizzie and the domestic help Bridget.
This is author Cara Robertson's first book and she does an excellent job of presenting facts after much careful research. I have read several books on this murder and this one has way more information available than the others. A good portion of the book covers the trial with dialogue I have not seen in previous books I read. We really get a sense of the time period through this book in the setting and mannerisms of the people interviewed.
This is one murder that fascinates us to this day even over one hundred years after the fact. Was Lizzie responsible for the murders? Read the book and make your mind up for yourself.
Great for lovers of crime fiction.
Pub Date 12 Mar 2019
I was given a copy of this from Simon & Schuster through NetGalley. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.

I did not love this books in fact I did not finish it. I read about half and then decided it was not the book for me.

The research and writing is very well done but it is very dry. I am interested in the Lizzie Borden case but this for people that are interested in knowing every detail.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this, it just was not for me.

The Trial of Lizzie Borden is exciting, near-mythical subject matter. The book got weighed down in minutiae that disrupted the narrative flow and made the book read more like a textbook than a thoughtful, well-researched study of one of the most written about and talked about trials of 19th century America.
Cara Robertson did a tremendous amount of research and provided excellent chapter notes. Her skill as an academic is clear. Her skill at weaving those facts into a compelling narrative fell short. I definitely learned a lot reading The Trial of Lizzie Borden, but I had to work really hard to do it.

Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. Robertson tells the infamous story of the Lizzie Borden trial through lots of highly research information. I commend the author for her meticulous attention to detail because that, in itself, is phenomenal. Due to this, the prose cam across as dry and I found it hard to stay focused on the plot. I am not normally a nonfiction reader, so I may have set myself up for failure on this one. However, I fully intend on listening to the audiobook of The Trial of Lizzie Borden once my library gets the book in stock. I love nonfiction in the form of audio, because it gives it so much more life and I think it would do this book much more justice.