The Lindbergh Nanny - Mariah Fredericks

AUTHOR: Mariah Fredericks

NARRATOR: Penelope Rawlins

GENRE: Historical Fiction, True Crime.

RATING: 3.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: Liked it enough. It’s not bad but it didn’t dazzle me as much as I had expected. Didn’t enjoy the first person pov.

Note: This review contains spoilers about the actual case.

Story Synopsis:

You might have heard of the famous kidnapping case of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s eldest son, twenty-month-old Charles Jr., in the early 1930s. This is a partially fictionalised narration of the events leading up to and beyond the kidnapping & murder, recollected from the point of view of Betty Gow, the child’s Scottish nanny.

Not being from the US, I had first heard of the Lindbergh case only when I had read Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, which takes inspiration from this kidnapping. As such, I couldn’t resist the chance of trying out this novel, though I am not a great fan of fictionalisations of true stories.

You don’t need to be aware of the actual case. (In fact, I think you will enjoy the book better that way.) But as I already knew some of the details, I chose to read about the complete case before venturing ahead with the book just to see how far the story sticks to the facts. While my online research revealed to me in advance what was to come, it also helped me appreciate the author’s creative decisions better.

Where the book worked for me:

✔ The author has done her research and it shows. Wherever she has stuck to the facts, she has done so with aplomb.

✔ Betty Gow makes for an intriguing main character. Unlike what you would expect, she has not been idealised into a ‘perfect nanny’ but is written as a real person with flaws. She made for a good narrative point of view, though the writing faltered somewhat in this aspect. The Lindberghs too seem to be accurately depicted. I was initially surprised at the negative portrayal of Charles Lindbergh (the aviator, not the baby), but an online search revealed that he had shades of grey in his character. Betty’s connection with little Charlie comes out beautifully.

✔ This book is the perfect mix of fact and fiction. I admired how the author took the bare details of the facts and gave it her own twist. While this does end up vilifying some real people, it doesn’t do so without apparent justification.

✔ The police investigation is well-detailed and reveals a lot about the people who were under their eye of suspicion.

✔ There is a ‘Fact vs. Fiction’ section at the end of the book, which clearly demarcates the elements in the book. I wish all historical fiction writers who write stories based on facts would include such a well-written clarification of the plot points and their writing choices.

✔ For a change, the author’s note about the real Betty Gow and the aforementioned section of ‘Facts vs. Fiction’ were included in my advance audio copy. These two sections bring a new understanding to the story, and I was grateful to have access to these, for once.

Where the book could have worked better for me:

❌ Even without my research into the case, I already knew what was to happen to the baby. This is somewhat of a downer in a novel where the kidnapping doesn’t even happen until about the 40% mark. There was no surprise of discovery. The only positive of this is that there's an added sense of poignancy to Betty's wait for the baby’s safe return since you already know that he won’t be coming home again.

❌ I am never a fan of crime books where the amateur characters discover more information than the police do. I also found it tough to accept how one policeman shared inside details of the case under investigation with Betty.

❌ Barring the scenes where Betty discovers that the child is missing and where she has to identify the body, the rest of the book feels somewhat flat in terms of emotions.

❌ There’s a lot of info-dumping in the final chapters.

❌ Betty’s first person narration includes a lot of inner monologues. This becomes even more grating in the audio version as you listen to her voicing her extended thoughts on everything, even when she has to respond to a question.

❌ The story does wonderfully while depicting the discovery of the kidnapping, the information about the investigation and the finding of the child’s body, and later, the trial. The rest of the book doesn’t match up. It digresses a lot with extended scenes that have no bearing on the main case. This also reduces the pacing of the story. Having the audiobook was a blessing at such times.

The audiobook experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 12 hours 18 minutes, is narrated by Penelope Rawlins. Absolutely no complains in this section. Loved her narration, loved the way she enunciated the dialogues, loved the accents/voices she used for every character. The audiobook would be a great way to experience this story.

In one way, the story is almost like yet another conspiracy theory about the Lindbergh case. On the other hand, it is more of Betty Gow’s story than that of Charles Lindbergh Jr. Whatever way you look at it, the book is a good one-time read. I might have enjoyed it more had I not kept waiting for the kidnapping to happen. Knowing the fact behind the fiction is detrimental at times.

Recommended to true crime enthusiasts who want to read a different take on the Lindbergh kidnapping.

My thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC of “The Lindbergh Nanny”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.