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Sarah Miller’s documentary novel “The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century” illustrated the brutal murder of Andrew and Abby Borden and its aftermath. The author Sarah Miller brought an extraordinary immersive experience of the case through her meticulous research and exquisite style of writing, making this book stand out among the non-fiction book catagories.
August 4, 1892, at 92 Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, Andrew Jackson Borden, the least popular but wealthiest man in town, was found murdered. Suspicion immediately fell on Andrew and Abby’s young daughter, Lizzie Borden. Some argued Lizzie was guilty of murder, while others believed her acquittal was just. Did Lizzie do it? If not, then who did it?
This book is fascinating and full of surprises, attracted by the reversals one after another turn of the page. Scroll down to discover my analysis of the book and the mystery. 
The first two pages of my notebook note the central idea throughout the book: Widespread discrimination. Although this book is a documentary novel, mainly focusing on the famous Borden case, I found the idea of racism and sexism appearing frequently throughout the novel. I realized this was the central idea of the book because the author hints at the very beginning of the book that class divisions, sexism, racism, etc. were very prevalent at that time.
On the first page, I gathered all the shreds of evidence I found of sexism in the chapter: Trial of the Century, I realized that one of the main reasons that Lizzie was released in court was her gender; all of that gender role, expectations, and feminine actions made it extremely hard to convict her and brought her innocent.
On this page, I went back to the very start of the novel and found some hints that Miller left out of racism, especially in the chapter: Investigation, the police wanted information from the only witness Lizzie; However, instead of asking for valid information, the police asked, “Is there any Portuguese working on the farm over the river for your father?”(Miller 39); which was a direct discrimination against the Portuguese.
This Cause&Effect page illustrates how the background of the crime, Lizzie linked to the trial of the century which resulted in a mystery over centuries.
This page demonstrates how some vocabularies like “Somber” and “Shocking” used at the very start of the novel show an idea of the gruesome aftermath of a violent and shocking double murder, emphasizing its tragedy.
This page is a background research page and an answer to the case I have questioned while reading. At the start of the story, Lizzie Borden was acting strange which was questionable; therefore, I researched her background and was told that she might’ve actually been mentally unstable and suffered from psychological issues. 
Lastly, this page shows some connections i made within chapters, circling around the central idea: Widespread discrimination.
And that’s all! Thank you for reading this blog post! Please pick out this book if you’re an murder mystery lover!