Illustrated by Ted Hammond
3.5 stars
An interesting look at the Winchester Mystery House and Sarah Winchester more specifically. I’ll admit, before reading this I’d only heard the supernatural versions of the story. I appreciate that Berne took a fact-based approach and highlighted some of the reasons for the unique architecture.
The book covers quite a bit of ground, ranging from the Civil War to the San Francisco Earthquake, working in spiritualism, gossip, and the importance of evaluating sources when reporting facts.
At the back of the book is a Timeline of the Winchester House as well as a Timeline of the World with more general events throughout the same time period.
Overall, this was an interesting read. A empathetic look at what we know of the life of Sarah Winchester and a nice example of the importance of fact checking.