This tiny Penguin book is in reality two short stories based on the real-life character of Lizzie Borden who was arrested, charged and acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother. Angela Carter writes with a sensual darkness and gives an earthy, colourful slant to these two stories, one set in her childhood and the other set on the morning of the murders.

While it is quite obvious that the author felt that Lizzie Borden was the murderer, these stories don’t supply any new evidence or give a definitive answer, but they do breathe life into this rather remote character of whom so little is actually known. What Angela Carter does do is set the stage by describing the heat, the smells, the temperament and the conditions of life in 1890s New England.

Although there are other suspects and many other theories, the legend of Lizzie Borden still looms large and many children have skipped rope to this ditty:

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother 40 whacks
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.

In truth, this unsolved murder mystery appears to have captured the imagination and speculation of author Angela Carter as much as it has other people over the years. ( )