The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne

I grew up in Fall River and was intrigued by the story of Sarah Maria Cornell. I had heard nothing about it prior to reading this book. The narrative is presented with much repetition and discontinuity. I tolerated the writing style because I wanted to follow the sad tale of Sarah through to the end.

At first I thought the initial information was tedious, but it turned out to be completely reasonable and necessary. It wasn’t long before I couldn’t stop. I finished in one day. Never has historical fiction been more compelling a read. The author really did her homework, the research is impressive. Who knew it could be such a page turner too! I like research that sets the record straight. The victim deserves that. Highest praise for this book.

Somewhat repetitive. The author was investigating a murder that took place in the 1800’s and compared her findings to that of another author’s, written about the same murder. Not only was she overly critical of that author, but she kept reminding us that the tools available to investigators today were not available back then.I liked the comparison of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter to the murder she investigated.Overall, it would have been a better read had she not tried to compare her investigation to that of the earlier author.

The energy Winkler Dawson brings to her investigation is passionate, and her interest in the intersection of contemporary accounts, literary impact, and modern review of the evidence approaches a rounded presentation of the Sarah Cornell case. The Sinners All Bow is decent airplane reading, and victim advocating true crime.The book, however, feels under-edited. There's a lot of repetition of information and analysis between and within chapters that feel like someone padding an essay for page count. With some regularity the quotes presented don't support the conclusions the author makes and it isn't clear if the wrong quote was picked from notes. Sometimes the timeline of facts contadicts itself (was the second autopsy the day after the murder or two days after burial?), which I feel a good editor would drive to a clean resolution.Likewise the sometimes shoe horned comparisons with The Scarlett Letter. I'm left with no doubt about the direct influence of Sarah Cornell on Hawthorne's protagonist. But sometime the influnce is presented the other way, as if fictional Hester Prynne is the source and historical Cornell the reflection.The book chooses to loosely follow both the chonology of events and the chronology of Catharine Williams' investigation and reporting. This can make holding the suspense around the mystery forced and overly drawn out, or maybe that's the above noted repetition. In either case I doubt the suspense would engage anyone familiar with the case ahead of time; for the record I was not and didn't wiki anything related until after finishing.Finally, I found the author's judgment on Williams' tone and bias frustrating given Winkler Dawson's own clear and repetitious agenda.The investigation Winkler Dawson does, especially the consultation of modern experts is the real star of the show. And the inclusion of literary scholarship was a refreshin addition that could benefit other historical nonfiction, true crime or otherwise. There's a solid gem here, it just needs a bit more polishing to really shine.

If you like a good detailed mystery, this book will give you thrilling chills as the investigation pulls some famous culprits out of the past to make you think. I am reading it again because I love the read to seek anything I might have missed.