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Meticulously researched and compellingly told, Captive of the Labyrinth debunks the unjustly enduring legend of rifle heiress Sarah Winchester as a madwoman haunted by spirits of those killed with Winchester guns. In a tour de force of narrative history, author Mary Jo Ignoffo reveals the richness of her shy but sane subject's life, putting it vividly into the context of her Gilded Age era with stunning detail. In Ignoffo's talented hands, Sarah Winchester emerges as someone worthy of a biography even had she not married into the Winchester family and inherited a fortune based on guns. Ignoffo delivers this life story splendidly. -John Bainbridge, Jr., author of Gun Barons: The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them Like the gleaming metal on a rifle's trigger, Ignoffo's argument shines as she demystifies one of the most prominent aspects of the Winchester mythology-the one revolving around the Winchester repeater, guilt, and the macabre. - Southern California Quarterly Captive of the Labyrinth is an impressive achievement. Ignoffo mined an extensive array of bibliographic and other source material to construct the portrait of a woman who was a product of her time and who strained against its boundaries. -Western Historical Quarterly Captive of the Labyrinth is an excellent read. Ignoffo finally sets the record straight on one of the most fascinating and misunderstood women in California history. A real page-turner! -Gary F. Kurutz, California State Library Director of Special Collections

""Meticulously researched and compellingly told, Captive of the Labyrinth debunks the unjustly enduring legend of rifle heiress Sarah Winchester as a madwoman haunted by spirits of those killed with Winchester guns. In a tour de force of narrative history, author Mary Jo Ignoffo reveals the richness of her shy but sane subject's life, putting it vividly into the context of her Gilded Age era with stunning detail. In Ignoffo's talented hands, Sarah Winchester emerges as someone worthy of a biography even had she not married into the Winchester family and inherited a fortune based on guns. Ignoffo delivers this life story splendidly.""-John Bainbridge, Jr., author of Gun Barons: The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them ""Like the gleaming metal on a rifle's trigger, Ignoffo's argument shines as she demystifies one of the most prominent aspects of the Winchester mythology-the one revolving around the Winchester repeater, guilt, and the macabre.""- Southern California Quarterly ""Captive of the Labyrinth is an impressive achievement. Ignoffo mined an extensive array of bibliographic and other source material to construct the portrait of a woman who was a product of her time and who strained against its boundaries.""-Western Historical Quarterly ""Captive of the Labyrinth is an excellent read. Ignoffo finally sets the record straight on one of the most fascinating and misunderstood women in California history. A real page-turner!""-Gary F. Kurutz, California State Library Director of Special Collections

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Mary Jo Ignoffo is an author and historian specializing in California and the West. She has written books and articles, curated historical museum exhibits, has been interviewed for documentary films and for podcasts airing in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. She is the author of Captive of the Labyrinth Sarah L. Winchester Heiress to the Rifle Fortune, La Verdad A Witness to the Salvadoran Martyrs and Gold Rush Politics. Ignoffo holds degrees from Santa Clara University and San Jose State University.

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