#TriflersNeedNotApply by Camilla Bruce (2021)
Publication Date: 5 August 2021
Page Count: 448
Rating: 🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡
‘Man Shall Inherit the Earth, Unless She Kills Him First’ - cover tag line.
My thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Triflers Need Not Apply’ by Camilla Bruce in exchange for an honest review. In the USA it was published as ‘In the Garden of Spite: A Novel of the Black Widow of La Porte’. The U.K. title comes from the last line of a personal advert popularly attributed to Belle Gunness.
Well, that was quirky! I had loved Camilla Bruce’s 2020 folk horror ‘You Let Me In’, so was very excited about this book. While this lacked the obvious folkloric element, aside from references to the Scandinavian tales of trolls and the hulder, certainly it was an unusual story and what a character Bella Sorenson was!
Set in the opening years of the 20th Century, it is a blend of fiction and historical true crime, a reimagining of the life of notorious American serial killer, Belle Gunness Sorenson. I had never heard of Sorenson before reading this novel though clearly she has been the subject of interest in true crime circles.
The novel opens in 1877 Norway and chronicles Bella’s (then named Brynhild) life there including the events that lead to her coming to America to join her sister, Nellie, in Chicago. To Nellie Belle will always be ‘Little Brynhild’, despite indications that something is very wrong.
The novel is narrated by the sisters allowing readers both perspectives. These dual voices worked especially well in its audiobook edition read by Natalie Naudus and Stacey Glembosk.
I found this an excellent novel and felt that Bruce did well in establishing Bella’s motivations over time. There’s something about Bella that draws you into her worldview. As the publishers write: ‘be frightened of her, secretly root for her.’
Obviously there is a fair amount of violence though a novel about a prolific historical serial killer is not going to be all sweetness and light.
I consider this a brilliant novel, well written and researched. Camilla Bruce’s Author’s Notes provides details of the real life Belle, various theories, and where she exercised artistic license.
Highly recommended.