Story Description:
St. Martin’s
Press|February 2, 2011|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-312-67443-4
Lulu and Merry’s
childhood was never ideal, but on the day before Lulu’s tenth birthday their
father drives them into a nightmare. He’s
always hungered for the love of the girls’ self-obsessed mother, after she
throws him out, their troubles turn deadly.
Lulu had been
warned to never let her father in, but when he shows up drunk, he’s impossible
to ignore. He bullies his way past Lulu,
who then listens in horror as her parents struggle. She runs for help, but discovers upon her
return that he’s murdered her mother, stabbed her five-year-old sister, and
tried unsuccessfully to kill himself.
Lulu and Merry are
effectively orphaned by their mother’s death and father’s imprisonment, but the
girls’ relatives refuse to care for them and abandon them to a terrifying group
home. Even as they plot to be taken in
by a well-to-do family, they come to learn they’ll never really belong anywhere
or to anyone – that all they have to hold onto is each other.
For thirty years,
the sisters try to make sense of what happened.
Their imprisoned father is a specter in both their lives, shadowing
every choice they make. One spends her
life pretending he’s dead, while the other feels compelled by fear, by duty to
keep him close. Both dread the day his
attempts to win parole may meet success.
A beautifully
written, compulsively readable debut, The
Murderer’s Daughters is a testament to the power of family and the ties
that bind us together and tear us apart.
My Review:
Lulu,
10-years-old, her sister, Merry, 6-years-old lived with their mother and father
in Brooklyn. Their mother was no “macaroni-necklace-wearing”
kind of mother and viewed 10-year-old, Lulu as a “miniature hand servant.” In July of 1971 their family fell apart. Lulu and Merry’s mother kicked their father
out of the family home and told the girls not to let him in when he came to the
door. Mom went to take a nap and ordered
the girls’ to do the same. While napping
someone knocked at the door. Lulu got up
to investigate and realized it was her father.
She told him her mother was sleeping and couldn’t let him in. Her father, who was drunk, demanded to be let
in so Lulu cracked open the door with the safety chain still on. Her father was becoming impatient and
demanded she let him in. Not knowing for
sure what the right thing to do was, Lulu released the safety chain and he
barged his way in.
Their mother was
livid when she found him in the apartment and they began to fight and
argue. He picked up a knife to stab the
girls’ mother and she yelled to Lulu to run downstairs and get their neighbour,
Teenie. Lulu stood stock still for a
moment, disbelief clouding her mind that their father would try to kill their
mother. Finally she took off running and
got Teenie. But by the time they
returned to the apartment he had stabbed their mother to death and she was
lying in an ever growing puddle of blood.
He had also stabbed little Merry in the chest and tried unsuccessfully
to kill himself. Thankfully, Merry also
survived.
Now with their
father in jail and their mother dead, the girls are orphaned. None of their aunts and uncles wanted to take
them in so they ended up in the Duffy Home, an orphanage. Eventually, Mrs. Parker the head of the home takes
a liking to Merry and Lulu and takes them home as foster children.
The story follows
the girls through the rest of their childhood, into their teenage years and
finally into adulthood. The book is
written in alternating chapters between Lulu and Merry so we get a close-up
view of the emotions and turmoil each is going through.
The characters
were very well-developed. The girls came
from such a dysfunctional family that it’s a wonder either of them even made it
to adulthood. Both girls dealt with this
tragedy in completely opposite ways and it was interesting being privy to each
of the girls’ thought processes.
The Murderer’s Daughters was a
captivating read and I’ll remember Lulu and little Merry for quite a while to
come.
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