REVIEWS
of Murder in a Mill Town

“Murder in a Mill Town is a murder mystery, a sex scandal, a legal thriller, and a crystal-clear primer on how the rise of capitalism transformed the most intimate aspects of American life—all rolled into one. It is an essential read for anyone interested in true-crime tales and their hold on American culture.”
— Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Most Famous Man in America and Madam

“A young mill girl. A married minister. An inconvenient pregnancy. A suspicious death. A sensational murder trial. Bruce Dorsey’s deeply researched account shows that the case captured the attention of antebellum America not just because of its lurid combination of sex and violence, but also because of the ways it played out contemporary conflicts over the changing roles of women—and men. Two centuries ago, an illicit affair could threaten a man’s status and a woman’s life. Now, after the overthrow of Roe v. Wade, the tragedy of Sarah Maria Cornell remains urgent, illuminating, and haunting.”
— John Wood Sweet, Bancroft and Parkman Prize-winning author of The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America

“This true crime history set in a New England mill town may seem familiar at first. But gradually peeling the onion, Bruce Dorsey reveals the exceeding strangeness of the times, reminding us that the past is a foreign country.”
— John Mack Faragher, Yale University

“This is a story of ordinary people living in exceptional times, who find themselves caught up in a rapidly changing world—a story that involves not only the two central protagonists, but hundreds of trial witnesses whose testimony illuminates their historical experience in striking detail, and dozens of journalists and popular writers who search for broader meanings in this episode of personal violence. In strikingly accessible prose, Bruce Dorsey brings his characters to life on the page.”
— Karen Halttunen, author of Murder Most Foul: The Killer and the American Gothic Imagination