I've just finished a book that had a deep impact on me. It's titled "Sins of the Father." I had seen the movie recently--starring Shelly Long-- and when a friend offered me the book (at the Meagher County Book Festival in White Sulphur Springs, MT) I gladly accepted it. I spent the next two days unable to lay it down. The story is so similar to my family story--the physical and sexual abuse, the absent deluded mother, the various ways the children dealt with the constant terror. The mother eventually left him, went to school and became a lawyer. The big difference was that the father raped and killed an eight year old neighbor girl with his daughter--Eileen Franklin--as a witness, and then terrorized her into keeping the secret for twenty years. When she finally came forward and told the police, the subsequent legal action splintered her family. At least one of the five children actually testified on behalf of the murderer. He was convicted, but after six years in prison, he was released on a technicality. I've Googled to find out what happened after he was released, but so far have found nothing about her (she had moved to Switzerland.) The study of the reactions of the family members is so similar to my family--some still clinging to denial, some bitter to the point of viciousness, some self-medicating, some trying to heal.
Another book that I found at Amazon and added to my library is called "Zero at the Bone." It's the story of Ronald Gene Simmons, a murderer who was executed in Florida some years ago. His family's story is almost identical to ours, with the differences being that 1) the family included two boys, 2) he actually impregnated his oldest daughter, who bore a child, and 3) he ended up killing his entire family, including sons-in-law, daughters-in law, and grandchildren, a total of fourteen people. The entire family had gathered for Christmas, and not one survived. It was so eerily similar to our story that it gave me nightmares. The second daughter was very like my sister Frances, who would get in his face, sass and dare him to do anything about it. The family was in the process of convincing the mother to leave him. The denial that prevented that family from seeing how dangerous their dad was is so similar to the tap dance that my sister Kathleen played with our father the year after she left home--staying close, coming to the ranch occasionally, and then bringing her prospective husband out to meet him eight months after she ran away. Even now, I don't think she realizes how close she came to getting all of us killed that day. (Read Chapter 21 of "Dancing on his Grave.") As I gradually face the depth of the denial practiced by her and my whole family, I'm beginning to wonder what other offenses he might have committed that are hidden in the minds of some of my siblings (or even mine?)
Great progress to report on "Chasing Ghosts." I had an intense session with my coach, and am launching a major edit of the manuscript. I'll have to touch base with my graphic artist-layout expert to see if he's prepared for another book. I have about six weeks before I'm due in Boulder, Colorado to sit on a panel for the Western Literature Association. Then Missoula and Billings (MT) Bookfests, and I can get ready for another big family Thanksgiving.
