Narrators Erin Hunter, Garrick Hagon, and Jennifer Woodward perform this new imagining of the woeful tale of Lizzie Borden with pathos and empathy. The investigation of murderer Lizzie Borden’s home life before she killed her parents is told from multiple perspectives by Lizzie; her older sister, Emma; the housemaid, Bridget; and a mysterious stranger named Benjamin, all ably portrayed by this talented team. Most harrowing is the portrayal of the murder scene, with the oppressive summer heat and the gruesome sights and sounds of the scene. The narrators aid the investigation of the dysfunctional family with perfect pacing and dramatic pauses for a story that features more questions than answers. R.O. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

In See What I Have Done, Sarah Schmidt has created a lurid and original work of horror.

★ 05/08/2017
Schmidt’s unforgettable debut brings a legendary American crime to eerie new life. Four narrators recount events surrounding the 1892 murders of Andrew and Abby Borden: Lizzie Borden; her older sister, Emma; and the family’s maid, Bridget Sullivan, are within the Massachusetts home in which the deaths occurred. The fourth, a young man known only as Benjamin, is a stranger to everyone in the family but the sisters’ maternal uncle, who is visiting at the time of the tragedy. Though their interpretations of events differ, all describe roiling tensions. The manipulative, nearly feral Lizzie is forever scarred by her mother’s early death, while Emma longs for an artistic life uncomplicated by her sister’s outsized presence. Their relationship with their father and stepmother is fractured: Andrew Borden is a miserly, abusive man who thinks nothing of beheading the pet pigeons Lizzie loves, and his second wife, Abby, has never gained her stepdaughters’ trust. On August 4, family conflicts erupt in a chain of events that is as intricate as it is violent. Equally compelling as a whodunit, “whydunit,” and historical novel, the book honors known facts yet fearlessly claims its own striking vision. Even before the murders, the Bordens’ cruel, claustrophobic lives are not easy to visit, but from them Schmidt has crafted a profoundly vivid and convincing fictional world. Agent: Dan Lazar, Writers House. (Aug.)

Praise for See What I Have Done

“Debut novelist Sarah Schmidt tackles the murk and silence in this old tale, imagining the cruel secrets of a respected family.” — Elle , one of 24 Best Books To Read This Summer

“[The] novel is compelling, scary—and gruesomely visceral.” — Entertainment Weekly , one of Summer’s 20 Must-Read Books

“A bloody good read . . . A taut, lyrical account of the destruction of the Borden family, both through ax murder and subtler means . . . Schmidt inhabits each of her narrators with great skill, channeling their anxieties, their viciousness, with what comes across as (frighteningly) intuitive ease. Everything about Schmidt’s novel is hauntingly, beautifully off. It’s a creepy and penetrating work, even for a book about Lizzie Borden.” — USA Today

“This palpable imagining of what led to the murder of Lizzie Borden’s parents will stay with you for as long as this historical mystery has enthralled pop culture.” — Redbook , one of the Best Summer Reads

“A gripping and still puzzling story . . . a credible imagining of a bizarre episode.” — Wall Street Journal

“This fictional retelling of the Lizzie Borden murders is a domestic nightmare . . . [with] staggeringly gorgeous, feverish prose and the thrill of deep, dark, gruesome detail.” — BookPage , Six of the Brightest New Names in Fiction

“[A] moody, atmospheric tale . . . Superb.” — Washington Independent Review of Books

“Riveting . . . See What I Have Done is a stay-up-late novel for crime and psychological suspense fans. The profiles feel spot on. The drama is intense. The fetid atmosphere of over-ripening fruit, summer heat and festering emotional wounds is not for sissies. But brace up and dive in.” — Book Browse

“A terrifically dread-inducing, claustrophobic, nightmarish immersion in a fictional version of one of the most famous crimes in American history . . . a tense psychological study of family dysfunction, painted with a vividness bordering on the hallucinogenic . . . A gripping and accomplished novel.” — Tampa Bay Times

“Schmidt makes a case in See What I Have Done that feels truthful in its emotional intensity . . . [and] sheds a different light on what once seemed an open-and-shut case.” — Portland Press Herald

“ See What I Have Done enters the murder house before and after that fateful August day and, with quiet intensity, creates a memorable place of horror.” — Forward Reviews (starred review)

“[A] sensual new novel . . A prickly, unsettling wonder: a story so tactile and feverishly surreal it feels like a sort of reverse haunting.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Schmidt brings to life one of the most unexpected and fascinating crimes in American History.” — Refinery 29 , Best Beach Reads of the Year

“A complicated, compelling tale . . . giving fresh life to a sensational crime of old.” — Marie Claire

“Schmidt’s debut novel reimagines the crime and tells the story of a family in chaos.” — New York Post , 29 Best Books of the Summer

“[An] unforgettable debut . . . Equally compelling as a whodunit, ‘whydunit,’ and historical novel.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A dazzling debut novel that is as unsettling as the summer heat that permeates the crime scene . . . an unusually intimate portrait. There are books about murder and there are books about imploding families; this is the rare novel that seamlessly weaves the two together, asking as many questions as it answers.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Heralds the arrival of a major new talent . . . Nail-biting horror mixes with a quiet, unforgettable power to create a novel readers will stay up all night finishing.” — Booklist (starred review)

“What better subject for a psychological thriller than one of the most notorious murders in U.S. history . . . A fresh treatment of Lizzie Borden.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“[A] gory and gripping debut.” — Guardian

“Lizzie Borden might be the archetypal transgressive female, and Sarah Schmidt has taken the 81 whacks and the parents that were dealt them and spun a mesmerising reimagining of it all . . . Schmidt writes with precision and flair about the oppressive boredom of domesticity, the twisted intensity of sisterly love and the forlorn dreams of leaving and of personal reinvention . . . A glittering, gory fever dream of a book, See What I Have Done is a remarkable debut.” — Telegraph

“This novel is like a crazy murdery fever dream, swirling around the day of the murders. Schmidt has written not just a tale of a crime, but a novel of the senses. There is hardly a sentence that goes by without mention of some sensation, whether it’s a smell or a sound or a taste, and it is this complete saturation of the senses that enables the novel to soak into your brain and envelope you in creepy uncomfortableness. It’s a fabulous, unsettling book.” — Book Riot

“Eerie and compelling, Sarah Schmidt breathes such life into the terrible, twisted tale of Lizzie Borden and her family, she makes it impossible to look away.” — Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train

“Everyone knows the rhyme. We’ve all heard the story. But not until you read See What I Have Done will you learn the truth behind one of the most spine-tingling horror stories of all time. In this stunning debut novel, Sarah Schmidt transforms the Lizzie Borden story from lurid infamy to flawed reality.” — Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

“Sarah Schmidt’s beautifully wrought See What I Have Done is a compelling, psychologically rich take on a well-loved tale, bringing new insight into the myth of just who Lizzie Borden was. This glorious gothic novel brings to mind the work of Sarah Waters and Patrick McGrath.” — Sabina Murray, author of Valiant Gentlemen

“Haunting, evocative and psychologically taut, See What I Have Done breathes fresh life into the infamous 19th-century murder case surrounding Lizzie Borden. This is a powerful, beautifully researched debut novel that brings us into contact with the recurring American dramas of violence and retribution while summoning the beguiling voices of the past.” — Dominic Smith, author of the New York Times bestseller The Last Painting of Sara de Vos

★ 05/01/2017
In this novel from Australian newcomer Schmidt, we are taken inside the delusional mind of accused 19th-century ax murderer Lizzie Borden and also witness the churning interior monologs of her older sister, Emma, and the Bordens' hapless Irish maid, Bridget. We get to inhabit another character as well: a potential hit man named Benjamin, lured in by the sisters' nefarious Uncle John. Schmidt employs some unusual word choices—animals "critter" instead of walk, lamplight "rages." Not surprisingly, the prose is rife with a creepy physicality, its imagery dwelling on skin, blood, fingernails, smells, etc., although readers are spared much of the actual crime's gruesomeness. The heated narrative contributes to the sense of simmering craziness permeating the Borden household. A historical time line of actual events is appended. What better subject for a psychological thriller than one of the most notorious murders in U.S. history, and the mysterious Benjamin adds color and suspense to what might otherwise be a well-worn tale. VERDICT A fresh treatment of Lizzie Borden, highly recommended for mystery and true crime fans and others who like smart, edgy works.—Reba Leiding, emeritus, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, VA

Narrators Erin Hunter, Garrick Hagon, and Jennifer Woodward perform this new imagining of the woeful tale of Lizzie Borden with pathos and empathy. The investigation of murderer Lizzie Borden’s home life before she killed her parents is told from multiple perspectives by Lizzie; her older sister, Emma; the housemaid, Bridget; and a mysterious stranger named Benjamin, all ably portrayed by this talented team. Most harrowing is the portrayal of the murder scene, with the oppressive summer heat and the gruesome sights and sounds of the scene. The narrators aid the investigation of the dysfunctional family with perfect pacing and dramatic pauses for a story that features more questions than answers. R.O. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

★ 2017-05-15
A fictional reimagining of real-life murders so infamous they earned its alleged perpetrator her own playground rhyme and ax-wielders everywhere a catchy chopping song, even if the killer's guilt was never firmly established.On Aug. 4, 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts, Andrew Borden and his second wife, Abby, were found butchered in their home, the weapon thought to be an ax, though police never found it. In a dazzling debut novel that is as unsettling as the summer heat that permeates the crime scene, Schmidt alternates the first-person narration among sisters Lizzie and Emma Borden; Bridget, the family's maid; and a mysterious man named Benjamin, whose role doesn't come into focus so much as congeal like drying blood. Tempestuous Lizzie still lives at home with her father and stepmother, whom she calls "Mrs. Borden"; their relationship is strained at best. Older sister Emma, much to Lizzie's dismay, has left Fall River to stay with a friend for a while; the symbiotic relationship between the sisters and their teetering feelings of intense love and loathing fuel much of the novel's emotional fire. Bridget, who sees everything and is seething that Mrs. Borden recently confiscated her savings, is eager to get out of the house—and Schmidt creates such a palpable sense of unease that the reader is, too. Benjamin, a passing acquaintance of the girls' uncle, burns with rage; Schmidt is careful not to lay blame for the murders directly at his feet, though his presence is vital. It's a gamble to focus almost entirely on the day leading up to the murders and the actual day of the crime rather than widening the scope to include Lizzie's well-known trial and eventual acquittal, but it's one that pays off for Schmidt, creating an unusually intimate portrait. There are books about murder and there are books about imploding families; this is the rare novel that seamlessly weaves the two together, asking as many questions as it answers.