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See What I Have Done

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See What I Have Done

By: Sarah Schmidt
Narrated by: Erin Hunter, Garrick Hagon, Jennifer Woodward
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About this listen

 WINNER OF THE ABIA LITERARY FICTION OF THE YEAR 2018
WINNER OF THE MUD LITERARY AWARD 2018
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018
Shortlisted for the Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction 2018
Shortlisted for The Ned Kelly Awards for Best First Crime 2018
Shortlisted for the Strand Critics Awards for Best First Novel
Shortlisted for the Davitt Awards for Debut Novel 2018
Longlisted for the ABIA Matt Richell Award for New Writers 2018

'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, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train

He was still bleeding. I yelled, 'Someone's killed Father.' I breathed in kerosene air, licked the thickness from my teeth. The clock on the mantel ticked ticked. I looked at Father, the way hands clutched to thighs, the way the little gold ring on his pinky finger sat like a sun. I gave him that ring for his birthday when I no longer wanted it. 'Daddy,' I had said. 'I'm giving this to you because I love you.' He had smiled and kissed my forehead.

Lizzie Borden took an axe. Or did she? On 4 August 1892 Andrew and Abby Borden were murdered in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. During the inquest into the deaths, Lizzie Borden was arrested and charged with the murder of her father and her stepmother.
Through the eyes of Lizzie's sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, the enigmatic stranger Benjamin and the beguiling Lizzie herself, we return to what happened that day in Fall River.

'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

'Deserves to be considered a Gothic classic.' The Saturday Paper

'Schmidt writes thrillingly well.' The Australian

'A grand gothic novel.' Books+Publishing

'Believe the hype.' Marie Claire

'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

'[An] unforgettable debut ... Equally compelling as a whodunit, 'whydunit,' and historical novel.' Publishers Weekly

'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

SELECTED AS ONE OF 2017's MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS BY: Entertainment Weekly (US), Sydney Morning Herald (AU), The Metro (UK), The Observer (UK), The Sun (UK), The Express (UK), The Pool (UK) and The Stylist (UK) Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Thriller & Suspense Fiction Suspense Murder Mystery

Critic Reviews

Believe the hype around this Australian authors debut novel.
Sarah Schmidt's debut novel See What I Have Done inserts itself into this crowded field with considerable intelligence and poise.
Schmidt is a consum-mate storyteller whose account of the Borden murders is utterly compelling.
Partly a whodunnit murder mystery that spares no detail in describing the bone-cleaving attacks that killed the Bordens, Schmidt's novel is also an interesting exploration of 19th-century social repressions.
That it's done so well and so
compellingly by an author from suburban Melbourne
makes it all the more surprising. I found it disturbingly
confronting-watch out for the mutton broth and the
vomit-but couldn't stop reading it!
This study of Gothic horror and all it entails has enough psychological twists and plot turns to keep the reader questioning long after the last page has been turned - did she d it or not?
Even though this is an old story, Schmidt's beautifully abject and visceral prose paints a new and somehow more disturbing picture of Lizzie Borden and her family. (Ellen Cregen)
See What I Have Done deserves to be considered a Gothic classic
Well done Sarah Schmidt - your future books will be well worth reading. (Nina Valentine)
Schmidt's talent at descriptive prose teases out a story of a dysfunctional family, placing you at their dinner table, witness to their peccadilloes, hanging a big fat question mark over what really happened.
Sarah Schmidt should be commended for writing prose that is so beautifully unnerving and thorough and for handling these events in a rather decent way, especially the contradictions and strange elements about the crime, the family, and society.
Schmidt's writing is deeply atmospheric and compels us to turn the page
a cracker of a debut novel (Maryan Heffernan)
Unsettling in many ways, the story is brilliantly and beautifully told
The events directly leading up to the murders and the hunt for the perpetrator are told through the eyes of Emma, Bridget, Lizzie and stranger Benjamin and unravel in page-turning fashion
Sarah has a beautiful and poetic writing style and the novel is gripping as she builds tension leading to the final moments before the attack. (Fiona Purdon)
A skilfully crafted mystery novel (David Smith)
Schmidt describes the scenes leading up to and after the grisly murders in such detail you can almost feel the suffocating heat, smell the rancid mutton soup on the stove and picture the blood over the floor. By the end of this creepy novel you'll begin to understand why Lizzie might have been driven to murder
Schmidt mixes the accuracy of the historical with the suspense of the noir, sinking fishhooks into the reader. We may know what is going to happen, but still we keep reading, with horrid fascination.
This was an interesting and well-told murder mystery with some gruesome but fascinating details.
All stars
Most relevant
The ending disappointed but the story had me hooked. Has inspired me to learn more about the Lizzie Borden true story.

Some macabre scenes

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I didn't like it much. I kept waiting for a twist that never came!
Too much vomiting in the first couple of chapters.

Not my cup of tea

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If you like true crime this will be a novel for you..well written, good insight

Interesting compelling

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Do not listen to this unless you like the sound of saliva clicking around in someone’s mouth.

The male narrator put me off.

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In the beginning this book had promise, but the story jumped back and forward so that it became a little difficult to follow and sometimes a bit monotonous. Some of the voices bordered on disturbing.

Not my favorite

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