In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce was an impulse download because it's got one of the best book titles in recent memory. Oh, and it's a historical suspense novel based (loosely) on the life of Belle Gunness, a serial killer who operated in Chicago and Indiana in the late 19th / early 20th century. I'm not sure what I was expecting exactly besides gruesome, but what I ended up getting was basically the thriller equivalent of slowing down on the freeway to look at a grisly car accident. Did I like this? Not really. Was I, at times, riveted? Most definitely.
Warning: Spoilers (complete with trigger warnings) ahead!
Our story opens in Selbu, Norway and finds our heroine Brynhild living in poverty with her mother, younger sister, and abusive, drunkard father. She's a maid / kitchen help at a nearby farm and of course she's pregnant thanks to the farmer's oldest son (hello, the heir). The pregnancy is no secret and when people aren't suggesting she "take care of it" they're calling her a fool. But Brynhild wants this baby and just knows the farmer's son will do right by her - even if she does have to threaten to go to the local priest. The farmer's son, not about to marry dirt poor Brynhild lures her to the river and proceeds to beat her to the point of miscarriage and near death. But Brynhild vows to live, if only for spite - well, that and revenge. Let's not forget revenge.
You gotta love the 19th century. After Brynhild recovers she's constantly reminded of her shame, told it's basically all her fault, but nobody bats an eye when she goes back to work on the farm and suddenly the Pyschopathic Baby Daddy becomes very ill and dies. While she's slowly poisoning this sack of human garbage, Brynhild is writing letters to her much older sister in Chicago spinning tales of woe and begging her dirt poor sister and her husband to send money so she can relocate to America. Which they do. Brynhild changes her name to Belle and moves in.
This book shifts between Belle's and sister Nellie's point of view. Nellie, what a dumb bunny this woman is. Typical hardworking 19th century immigrant woman. A happy marriage, but living in a Chicago tenement taking in other peoples' laundry and with a wrecked back thanks to hard labor and numerous pregnancies (several miscarriages and infant deaths but by the end of the book she's had 3 children see adulthood). Anyway, Belle isn't exactly the big help Nellie was expecting or, quite frankly, needs - but she just wants her sister to be happy. Of course there's that unpleasant business when Belle stabs a suitor with a pair scisscors when he tries to rape her, that was unfortunate. NOW HOW WILL SHE EVER FIND A HUSBAND?!
Y'all seriously. Men are a problem.
Anyhoodle, at this point Belle has killed the Baby Daddy who beat her near to death causing a miscarriage and stabbed a drunken suitor who was intent on raping her. This second gem of a human being ends up murdered later on thanks to Belle's future lover / accomplice. Now, here's the thing, I'm not saying she should have necessarily murdered these men but girl, I understand. No, the problem here is that Belle goes entirely too far after the stabbing and men who aren't scum get sucked into her orbit.
She soon marries a nice man she meets at church (as you do) and she milks Mads into the comfortable lifestyle she feels she deserves, but as the money dwindles and the babies don't come (thank you Mr. Asshole in Norway), it all starts to sour. Belle meets James Lee (her future lover and accomplice) starts taking in foster kids, starts faking pregnancies, starts her own business which she later burns down for the insurance money, and starts slowly poisoning her husband to keep him meek and in line. After many, many years of this she finally gets fed up with him and finishes job - conveniently on the last day of Insurance Policy #1 and the first day of Insurance Policy #2. Basically poor dopey Mads pays off twice!
Belle then moves to Indiana, marries again, the inevitable happens, and oopsie doodle - Dead Husband #2. By this time Belle has four children and a taste for blood. She starts luring men to her farm with promises of land and love (just bring cash darling) and the bodies conveniently disappear thanks to her acres of land.
And all the while there's poor, long-suffering Nellie fretting about her sister. Honestly I love Author Notes in historical fiction and Bruce gives us a good one. Belle did have an older sister named Nellie but the sisters fell out after Husband #1 died. So the Nellie in the book is nearly a complete fabrication which the author indicates she did in order to create an "empathetic character." Yeah, nice try. Belle, I understood. Nellie? Nellie is a coward. She suspects her sister is a monster, but she just stands by wringing her hands. No, Nellie basically sends in the children to do a woman's job - and naturally things end very badly for the snooping oldest daughter. Nellie, dumb bunny that she is, gets her foster niece murdered. I just - really?! You're too much of a wuss to stand up to your sister so you SEND IN A CHILD TO FIND OUT WHAT BELLE IS HIDING IN THE FORBIDDEN CELLAR?!?!?!? Yeah, it's more than root vegetables. Anyway, Nellie is ineffectual, mealy-mouthed and I'm supposed to empathize with this woman? No. At least Belle is compelling in a train-wreck, murderous rampage sort of way. Nellie is just the literal worst.
It's a blood-soaked extravaganza with dismembered body parts, pop psychology (Belle could have been born bad but her father, her first lover and the would-be rapist probably didn't help matters), arson, and several dead children. Oh sure, Belle loved kids and by all accounts was "a good mother" - but children still end up dead all the same. I lost count - six dead kids? Mother of the Year!
So where does that leave us? Lord, I have no idea. This was certainly entertaining but I'm not sure I can (or want to) necessarily recommend it. It's Dark AF and fairly gory. If you're curious don't say I didn't warn you.
Final Grade = C
