Domestic Violence and Murder

The Murderer's Daughters
Randy Susan Meyers
St. Martin's Griffin (2011),
Paperback, 320 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

Domestic violence rears it's ugly head in this emotional tale that follows the two daughters of the estranged and drunken husband who kills his wife and attempts to kill one of the girls too. With their mother dead and father in prison, the two girls are essentially orphaned. Unwanted by their aunts and uncles, the girls soon find themselves placed in an orphanage, and eventually, adopted... yet they still need to deal with the events of their youth.

While this story follows the girls into their adult life, it seems to me that the author had as much difficulty dealing with the transformation of the youngsters from children to adult women as the characters had in dealing with the problems of their broken and dysfunctional family. I found the characters to be fairly well developed and quite flawed, so I had no trouble believing them to be human.  At times, I even wanted to slap both girls for their irrational behavior, yet I also found that the younger girl's ability to forgive and forget was something to be admired. Many of us can't do that; I know that if I had been the victim as she was, that I would not be able to forgive or forget.

I belive there may be a lesson for some readers in this tale and can recommend it to those who can handle the domestic violence and its aftermath. The Murderer's daughters was provided to me free from publisher in exchange for this review.  This review is being published on Dragon Views, Amazon.com and LibraryThing.