Is This Who We Are?

Amber Elliot’s column in the Washington Post is heartbreaking, but a must read as it’s indicative of what’s happening across the country. It’s unacceptable when a healthcare worker who is trying to save lives is forced to leave her job because of threats to her and her family. Anyone with one ounce of common decency should be outraged and condemn this. Is this who we are, indeed. Thanks to Jill for posting this.

Filosofa's Word

Often, a crisis such as a pandemic brings people together as they fight a common enemy, however the current pandemic has done the exact opposite in the U.S.  The reason it has driven us even further apart, of course, is that the ‘man’ in the Oval Office, the ‘leader’ of this nation, told people not to worry, that the coronavirus would be gone soon with minimal damage.  He then went even further, calling it a ‘democratic hoax’ and telling people not to bother with such things as wearing masks or social distancing.  Half the people in this country listened, instead, to the scientists and medical experts, but the other half listened to Trump and are now putting everyone’s lives at risk.

What follows is from a column in The Washington Post, written by Amber Elliott, a county health director in St. Francois County, Missouri, about the abuse she has taken…

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In the Garden of Spite: A Novel of the Black Widow of LaPorte, By Camilla Bruce ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Fiction Based On a True Story, Historical Fiction, Horror, Psychological Thrillers

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: January 19th, 2021

480 Pages

Synopsis: An audacious novel of feminine rage, about one of the most prolific female serial killers in American history—and the men who drove her to it.

They whisper about her in Chicago. Men come to her with their hopes, their dreams—their fortunes. But no one sees them leave. No one sees them at all after they come to call on the Widow of  La Porte. The good people of Indiana may have their suspicions, but if those fools knew what she’d given up, what was taken from her, how she’d suffered, surely they’d understand. Belle Gunness learned a long time ago that a women has to make her own way in this world. That’s all it is. A bloody means to an end. A glorious enterprise meant to raise her from the bleak, colorless drudgery of her childhood to the life she deserves. After all, vermin always survive.

As nighmare-inducing as In the Garden of Spite is, the fact that it’s based on true events, gives it an extra level of horror. Many of you know I’m a fairly quick reader, but once I started reading, it was impossible for me to put this down, and I flew through this in the course of one night!

I hadn’t heard of Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth, aka Belle, before now, and this book is a mix of fact, embellishments, and fiction. In the beginning I felt sympathy for her and the bleak circumstances of her growing up dirt poor and ultimately the victim of a severe beating which resulted in the loss of her unborn child at the hands of the father, in Norway (this event is rumored to have happened, but is unproven). However, that feeling waned as her victims began to pile up. The story is a slow burn in the beginning, yet I was completely engrossed, wanting to know what turned this woman into such a cold-hearted, prolific serial killer. Alongside Belle’s chapters are her older sister Nellie’s which give further insight into the development of this sociopath.

Normally I’d say almost 500 pages would be too long for a book like this, but Camilla Bruce does such a wonderful job blending fact with fiction in her portrayal of the enigmatic Belle, that I soon lost interest in the page count. The Afterward is a must read as well, as Bruce talks about how she came to write this, as well as what is documented as fact and what fictional elements she added. In the Garden of Spite, is a multi-layered blend of horror, true crime, historical fiction, and psychological thriller that I highly recommend. It’s left me wanting to do more research, which I call a huge success. I unhesitatingly recommend it to readers who enjoy books like Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City.