Letters to my Daughter's Killer by Cath Staincliffe

This is a harrowing story, told in a series of letters from an ordinary grandmother, Ruth Sutton, whose much loved daughter, Lizzie, is murdered in her own home. Lizzie and her husband, Jack have a 4 year old daughter. They share childcare because they're both freelance - Lizzie as a sign language interpreter and Jack as an actor.

Ruth learns of her daughter's death in a phone call from Jack late one night. Lizzie has been horrendously beaten. Initially, suspicion falls on a stalker, who trouble the little family a couple of years before, but the police quickly discount him. Jack, shocked and stunned, says that "It's always the husband that they look at first, isn't it?" when he brings his little daughter to Ruth's house as the police look for evidence at his home.

In the years after the killer is caught, convicted and gaoled, Ruth's anger, grief and hatred grows. She realises that these feelings are destroying her life but can find no way of moving beyond them, even while helping her grand-daughter's recovery from the traumatic loss of her mother. So Ruth begins to write to the killer in gaol. She writes letter after letter, telling the story of Lizzie's childhood, of her and Jack as a couple, at what Lizzie's murder has done to her. She asks for answers to numerous questions.

No-one in my family has ever suffered from a violent crime, so I have no basis of experience about this subject. Nevertheless, I sank into this story and wanted to help this grieving mother. It made me realise, if I needed reminding, that there are many experiences from which people suffer that they have to suffer alone. That well intentioned sympathy and even the practical assistance of walking the dog, bringing food, running errands, offer little or nothing to the traumatised.

Whilst this is a difficult story to read, Cath Staincliffe handles the subject with rare insight, emotional intelligence and great sensitivity. Her research is meticulous. There is no happy ending to this story but there is a kind of hope, visible in the last page, for Ruth and her little family.

Handle with care before you read on, but it's well worth it. Recommended

"Letters to my Daughter's Killer" is published by Constable and Robinson, ISBN 978 1 78033 571 1 (paperback) and 978 1 78033 572 8 (eBook)