Santa Clara Public Library

Join us for a virtual talk by author and historian Mary Jo Ignoffo, whose definitive biography of American heiress Sarah L. Winchester unearths the truth about this reclusive eccentric, revealing that she was not a maddened spiritualist driven by remorse but an intelligent, articulate woman who sought to protect her private life amidst the chaos of her public existence and the social mores of the time.

Sarah Winchester has been misrepresented for profit for over a century, but Captive of the Labyrinth finally puts to rest the myths about this American heiress, and, in the process, uncovers her true legacies.

About the book: Captive of the Labyrinth is reissued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of rifle heiress Sarah L. Winchester in 1922. After inheriting a vast fortune upon the death of her husband in 1881, Winchester purchased a simple farmhouse in San Jose, California. She built additions to the house and continued construction for the next twenty years. When neighbors and the local press could not imagine her motivations, they invented fanciful ones of their own. She was accused of being a ghost-obsessed spiritualist, and to this day it is largely believed that the extensive construction she executed on her San Jose house was done to thwart death and appease the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifle.

Register for this program on Zoom at: https://santaclaraca-gov.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_juPikojITgykIB1mv1Pcxw.