Happy Birthday, Lizzie Borden

On July 19, 2017, Lizzie would be 157 years old if she'd managed to outwit death somehow--her and Elvis, right?

Birthdays are important things. Some people take them more seriously than others; I personally always took the day off work and enjoyed the fact of my being on earth. Others prefer to pretend the anniversary doesn't exist, denying the onslaught of years.

It's interesting to note that the murders of the Borden parents took place a mere two weeks and two days after Lizzie's 32nd birthday.

I remember turning 30. It felt like a crisis: I hadn't accomplished any of the things I wanted to accomplish: publishing a novel (or 20), having children. I had my mid-life crisis early.

Imagine what it was like for Lizzie Borden, turning 32. In an era that only prized wifehood and motherhood for women, she had no suitors (that we knew about anyway). In a time period that freely threw around the pejorative word "spinster," she was one. As much as we feel sympathy for kids still living at home in their thirties today, imagine how it felt to live at home when you were jobless, powerless, feeling like you had no true "value" in the world other than your volunteering through the church. And with no wifi.

Lizzie volunteered sporadically, undertaking positions and then abandoning them. It has always seemed curious to me that she did not join friends at the seashore at Marion at the time of the murders merely because she needed to do a "roll call" as a volunteer leader. I can only assume a roll call means registering those who will serve on a particular committee and solidifying the responsibilities. Why did she feel that was so important, when she had preemptorily left other posts? If she had gone to the seashore, felt that healing connection to the sea, let the wind lift her hair off her neck, would some of her feelings of rage have abated?

In my novel The Murderer's Maid, I posit that she didn't go to Marion because she had her period. In those tamponless times, it would be no fun to soak cloths in a bucket--and maybe she'd be sharing a room with a friend-- and trying to hide the signs and smells (ordinarily, at home, the maid would deal with such unpleasant tasks). It is said that 1892 was one of the hottest summers on record.

Her roll call ended up having a much more deadly tally.

Well, anyway, happy birthday, Lizzie!

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History cruise on the Freda B. schooner

Last weekend I headed out with some friends on the schooner Freda B. out of Sausalito (north of San Francisco) for a history cruise. Captain Marina Lambchop comped me some tickets because she likes Woman of Ill Fame....lemme tell you, authors rarely get perks so I was delighted with this generous offer. Thank you a million times over! Unfortunately, Marina wasn't able to sail that day, but her co-captain Paul Dines gave an amazing tour with wonderful, funny narration.

Golden Gate Bridge towers lost in fog.

Sausalito was bright and hot and I scoffed initially at my having brought my down vest...but as we got out onto the bay and closer to San Francisco, it got cold quickly. I was soon very happy to have my vest and the blankets the crew very kindly handed out.

I helped haul up the sails and swallow the moon.

I call this coiffure "Bay Wind Flurry"

We learned so much from this tour and saw porpoises off the side leaping through the water (is that the right verb? Porpoises leap? I understand they often see whales too). We had incredible views of Alcatraz. I think my camera defaulted to this cool filter. Is my phone smart enough to recognize this historic structure and change its own settings??

The Rock. I still think you could swim to the mainland.

After repainting, someone was hired to redo the historic graffiti

And here is a neat triptych:

Alcatraz, sailboat, container ship: they can all share the bay!

Paul Dines told a touching story about the Liberty Ship Jeremiah O'Brien, docked in San Francisco at Pier 45. For the 50th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, the ship and its original crew sailed all the way back to France to be feted internationally, reviewed by the Queen and "piped" by other appreciative crews. This sturdy ship participated in D-Day and is one of only two Liberty Ships still functioning. Can you imagine this incredible vessel steaming 18,000 miles for six months? Without a single significant repair and arriving at each port ahead of schedule? I'm even tearing up a little typing this, thinking of those 70-year-old sailors back at their stations after so many decades.

Although we're now paying attention to something else, behind us is the admirable SS Jeremiah O'Brien

Paul Dines was great!

Paul Dines, narrating the history cruise

We passed by the home of Ghirardelli Chocolate, making San Francisco sweet since Gold Rush times...

I kind of need to make a port of call, stat!

...and here's some history. The brown house in the center was once Jack London's.

Jack had waterfront real estate at one time! And that is fog, not smoke (insert
"To Build a Fire" joke here)

And here's something I found truly fascinating. This stretch represents the last piece of untouched San Francisco coastline. Pretty amazing. This is what early sailors saw and had to figure out how to moor into (is that correct sailor talk?) Much of San Francisco's Embarcadero was plumped out with landfill (and yeah, there are sunken ships under the Financial District; here's a map of what's under there). I should've asked if this is near Clark's Point, where my character Nora disembarks in 1848 in my novel Woman of Ill Fame.

Last vestige of original coastline

My fun, history-loving friends, wrapped in blankets to ward off sea chills!

Me, back near sunny Sausalito. I could shed my blanket and down vest and unzip sweatshirt
to display the shirt a friend made. I wore a ship shirt on a ship!

The beautiful Freda B. back at dock

How, you may ask, can you take such a wonderful tour? It's so easy. Book through this website. What a wonderful thing to do on a date, if friends or family come into town, or to brush up on your local history. I hope you have as wonderful a time as I did!

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Lizzie Borden's Perfect Storm

Today's clam shack at Rocky Point. Courtesy, Mary Thibault

I've blogged before about how intrigued I am with the idea that a very tiny action can have huge consequences, especially if there are many, combined such small things: the so-called perfect storm.

One of those in the Lizzie Borden case was the barbecue planned for the Fall River Police Department at Rocky Point Amusement Park in Rhode Island. Lizzie knew about the barbecue; did it occur to her that there would be fewer officers left locally to deal with murders or other issues that might arise while most officers were 30 miles away?

The park closed in 1995, but Google Maps says the distance from Fall River, Massachusetts, to where the park operated in Warwick, Rhode Island, takes 45 minutes by car. We can only imagine that by horse and buggy the travel time was much longer. The police department had essentially advertised its own diminished capacity.

Moreover, I learned from the wonderful blog Warps and Wefts that Abby Borden was intended to watch her little niece whose parents were to attend the Rocky Point picnic, but because she was feeling ill (food poisoning or just take the word "food" off the phrase? Anyone?) she didn't. I'm curious to know if the parents still attended and simply found another babysitter. I learn from the same blog post that George Whitehead, the niece's dad, was a teamster, not a policeman, so I'm not sure why he would be attending. Maybe he was friends with officers.

That blog post points out, "Due to the illness of Abby Borden on Wednesday, these plans were changed, and forever after, those interested in the case have wondered if the outcome of the morning of August 4^th would have been very different had Abby Borden been able to assume the care of her little niece."

Indeed. Would Lizzie have had to kill the niece too? Or cancel her murderous plans? Errrr, I should probably point out that Lizzie was acquitted of the crimes.

Other "perfect storm" elements:

• Lizzie had  her period in the era before ibuprofen and tampons. Anger. Grrr. 
• Big heat that summer in the era before air conditioning. Anger. Grrr.
• Lizzie was supposed to go to the seashore with friends but canceled. What if she'd gone and had a great time? Found a bunch of sand dollars?
• Emma was away. What if she'd stayed home?
• Uncle John Morse showed up unexpectedly to spend the night at the Borden home. Lots of people loathed him, including Abby herself. What if he hadn't come?

Et cetera.

It's a fascinating story with so many little rabbit holes to go down.

I included a brief mention of the policeman's outing in my book The Murderer's Maid: a Lizzie Borden Novel. I couldn't find much historical mention of what was on offer there in 1892, so I took a chance that the electric trolley would be running. The Ferris wheel seen here was not yet built. How do I know that? Because of Erik Larsen's wonderful book Devil and the White City, which talks about the unveiling of the first Ferris wheel in 1893 at the Chicago World's Fair. There is a connection between the World's Fair and Lizzie Borden, and I'll blog about that soon.

In the meantime, I hope you had a happy Fourth of July!
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Another cover design post

I'm so thrilled with this cover for The Murderer's Maid. Why, you ask? Three reasons. Not listed in order of preference!

1. The tweaked image of Lizzie Borden. There aren't that many photos of Lizzie, alas; perhaps a handful. The designer wanted to use this one, and I made one small suggestion that I think will resonate with people who know Lizzie. In the original portrait, her eyes are looking off to the side. I asked if the gaze could be designed to look straight at the viewer. I think it's chilling and a subtle, wonderful change.

2. The blurbs! I have been so fortunate to have two bestselling authors whom I deeply respect, admire and downright like give blurbs to this novel. The ever-gracious, sweet Diana Gabaldon and my loveable partner-in-witchery Kathleen Kent donated kind words. I'm forever grateful to them both.

3. I love the bold red which will hopefully draw readers' eyes to the cover while browsing at the bookstore. They say you can't judge a book by its cover but you can certainly notice  a book by its cover.

What do you think?


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