Mariah Fredericks’s The Lindbergh Nanny is powerful, propulsive novel about America’s most notorious kidnapping through the eyes of the woman who found herself at the heart of this deadly crime.

When the most famous toddler in America, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., is kidnapped from his family home in New Jersey in 1932, the case makes international headlines. Already celebrated for his flight across the Atlantic, his father, Charles, Sr., is the country’s golden boy, with his wealthy, lovely wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, by his side. But there’s someone else in their household—Betty Gow, a formerly obscure young woman, now known around the world by another name: the Lindbergh Nanny.

A Scottish immigrant deciphering the rules of her new homeland and its East Coast elite, Betty finds Colonel Lindbergh eccentric and often odd, Mrs. Lindbergh kind yet nervous, and Charlie simply a darling. Far from home and bruised from a love affair gone horribly wrong, Betty finds comfort in caring for the child, and warms to the attentions of handsome sailor Henrik, sometimes known as Red. Then, Charlie disappears.

Suddenly a suspect in the eyes of both the media and the public, Betty must find the truth about what really happened that night, in order to clear her own name—and to find justice for the child she loves.

Review:

Captivating, atmospheric, and immersive!

The Lindbergh Nanny is a fascinating, absorbing novel set in the early-1930s that sweeps you away to New Jersey and into the life of Betty Gow, a Scottish immigrant whose life is irrevocably changed when, after being hired by aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife, heiress Anne Morrow Lindbergh to be the caregiver for their first child, Charles Lindbergh Jr., she becomes one of the prime suspects in his kidnapping when it becomes apparent that the twenty-month-old toddler was abducted through a window she left open.

The prose is smooth and fluid. The characters are multi-layered, secretive, and troubled. And the plot builds nicely to create tension and suspense as it unravels all the histories, motivations, personalities, and relationships within it.

Overall, The Lindbergh Nanny is an insightful, well-written, tragic tale by Fredericks based on real-life events that does an exceptional job of highlighting her impressive research and knowledge into what is undoubtedly one of the most famous kidnapping cases of all time.

This novel is available November 15, 2022.

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