The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks, a historical fiction novel, reads like a thriller–even though you probably know the ending. This story of baby Lindbergh’s kidnapping is told from the perspective of Betty Gow, the baby’s nurse. From the beginning of the book, you get the sense that she might be an unreliable narrator (which usually annoys me).

However, I liked the experience of reading this book, in that the reader can guess who was guilty. Fredericks leads you one way, then another. She would reveal a new piece of evidence, then you would change your mind on the guilty party. I was invested in solving the mystery.

Publisher’s Blurb

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.

In her acknowledgements, Fredericks says “with regard to Charles Lindbergh…he was a complex man who not only held but promoted some extremely ugly views…because he was the father of a murdered child, I have tried to be fair both to him and to the reader.”

Fredericks’s dislike for Charles definitely comes through however, in the descriptions of metal thumb guards the baby wore to prevent thumb-sucking, insistence on leaving the baby only for long periods of time, and his rule that no one was to cuddle the baby.

Age Recommendation:

Adult

TW: child loss, kidnapping

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.