The Murderer's Daughters

In the summer of 1971, in Brooklyn, the Zachariah family went through a horrible upheaval. When Celeste threw out her husband, Joe, she could not have foreseen what would happen next.Daughters Louise (Lulu) and Meredith (Merry) have been fending for themselves for a while, so when, in July, there is a knock on the door, Lulu tries to keep her father from entering. But he convinces her that all will be fine.But it is not. Soon their lives are in crisis mode: their mother is dead, they are living with their maternal grandmother, Mimi Rubee, and their father is in prison.The Murderer's Daughters is alternately narrated by Lulu and Merry, in the first person voice of each, and it carries us along through the years, revealing what happens to them. Cast aside by their maternal relatives, they find themselves in the Duffy-Parkman home for girls, since their paternal grandmother, Zelda, is in ill health.At the time of the disaster, Merry was five and Lulu ten. They each have very different attitudes toward their father. Lulu refuses to visit, but Merry comes to count on Grandma Zelda taking her to see their father.Even though Merry was also stabbed in the altercation, she seems to need her father. Perhaps because she was the light of his life...before.Through the years, we follow each of them and see how the events of that summer have informed their lives. Is Lulu unable to forgive her father because she can't forgive herself? What if she hadn't opened the door? A question she asks herself. Why is Merry able to forgive her father? How does going into an upper middle class foster home, after the girls' home, affect their lives? Will they continue to feel "not good enough"?Their relationships, or lack thereof, can be attributed to the domestic violence of their early lives, and the secrets they keep will define them in the future. In adulthood, Lulu becomes a doctor and finds a man named Drew who is understanding, supportive, and truly good, while Merry continually makes wrong choices and drinks too much.As a probation officer, she seemingly clings to the dark side. When Merry moved into an adjacent apartment in Drew and Lulu's home in Cambridge, she seemingly inserted herself into their lives. Much of what she did seemed to suggest the symbiosis of their relationship; a symbiosis that Lulu has railed against. In this excerpt, I find the hidden truths:"The past trapped us. Even now, at forty-one and thirty-six, we remained prisoners of our parents' long-ended war, still ensnared in a prison of bad memories, exchanging furtive glances, secrets known and secrets buried flashing between us."And then, finally, a frightening hostage situation at Merry's work brings everything to a head. Then, when a letter from prison informs them of the unexpected, something is altered. The chains of the past may finally slip away. Although this dark and emotionally combustible story kept me engaged, I felt that the more than thirty year span of the book did not allow for a deeply insightful look into the lives of the characters, and the narratives of the girls were limited by their unreliable perspectives. 4.0 stars.

It's all about family. Everything that happens in this not-easy-to-put-down novel, in the end, is about family. Mama had finally kicked husband Joey out of their small apartment in Brooklyn, near Coney Island, and had told the two girls, Lulu and Merry, not to let him in if he came back to the door. Joey was always mad for the attention and affections of his wife, Celeste, but he drank too much and never made enough money, so just the one time Celeste had gone to Joey's boss and had gotten his paycheck. The children remind us in the beginning that their mother isn't a "macaroni-necklace-wearing kind of mother." She was a pin-up sort of mother.On an afternoon, Joey came to the door and talked 10-year-old Lulu into letting him in. He was drunk, furious that his wife had gotten his paycheck and wanted the money despite the fact that his wife had the two girls to take care of, and of course, she also had boyfriends to entertain. Before they knew what was happening, the girls heard screams, thumping noises, and Mama asking Lulu to get her friend and neighbor, Teenie downstairs because Daddy had a knife. By the time Lulu and Teenie got there, Mama was dead, Merry had been stabbed and Daddy had tried to cut his wrists. Daddy went to prison for life, with the possibility of parole. No one wanted Lulu and Merry, not even their grandmothers.Merry survived the stabbing by her father, but both girls would be basically orphaned and affected by the murder of their mother by their father for the rest of their lives. One of them would carry guilt and the other would carry a longing to keep their father part of the family, and both would carry fear for the day he was paroled, if that day ever came. What would they do if Daddy got out of prison? Both were angry.After their mother died, the two girls were enrolled in a boarding school that was a nightmare for both of them. Merry and Lulu managed to make their way into the home of an affluent family who took good care of them, and the father paid for their educations. After his wife died, he was not as interested in the sisters anymore. Merry and Lulu stayed close to each other and were never far in distance from each other no matter what they did. Each other is really all they had.I loved this book. I stayed very angry with the father and the excuses he gave for killing his wife the entire way through the book, and I'm still angry with him. I had great sympathy for the two girls and the difficulties that life threw their way. The struggles that Merry (Meredith) and Lulu (Louise) had over the next 30 years after their mother's death would be difficult enough for adults to endure, but they got through as children and then as adults on their own with the help of each other. Even their chosen professions reflected what was still fresh in their minds.They must each learn to deal with the anger, guilt and fear that is close to the surface every day, and learn what it means to be a family, after all. One of them said that she just wanted them to be normal people, and the other responded with, "We are normal people." Despite the trials of their growing-up years, these two sisters show great resilience and courage. The little idiosyncracies that each girl adopted as coping mechanisms and as self-comforting actions were understandable and endearing. 5 stars for an excellent book.

This book caught my attention as the subject is quite particular. Who ever thinks about the other victims, i.e. relatives and friends of a murderer?This is not a mystery nor a thriller. It is rather a book exploring the impact a murderous act has on a family, an introspective analysis of the profound consequences such an act can have for the years to come for all involved.Sisters Lulu and Merry, aged 10 and 6 at the time, witnessed their drunken father murder their own mother and then almost killing Merry in the process. Merry recovers but needless to say, this shocking event changes their lives in several ways. A part from being victims as their mother was taken from them at such tender age, even worse was the fact that the perpetrator was their own father. A double tragedy.As they grow up, being almost tossed back and forth by a system that is inadequate, despite efforts, to deal with their emotional turmoils (close relatives refused to adopt them), the sisters try to deal with their problems as best as they can. However, consequences of the long-ago tragic event haunt and influence their present life. Their grief is tangible and kept private and they both deal with it in extremely different ways. More than 30 years have gone by since the murder. Will acceptance and, if possible, forgiveness be part of a sort of healing process -if "healing" could ever be possible is such circumstances- ?The book is written in a diary form by each sister, giving the reader a different perspective of their feelings. Marginal characters complement the story adequately, one of them being their own father, now in prison. His presence however, despite being marginal, is felt throughout the book. I liked the author's ability to convey the impact this man had on his daughters, despite not being "physically" there.I am surprised this book has received, so far, only a few reviews and that it is not available from Amazon directly. In my opinion, it is a good book, well written, a full 4 stars.

This book is about how two young girls deal with seeing their father kill their mother, the way they deal with it and their resulting relationships with each other and their father.The younger girl who was also injured stays in touch with her father, visits him and tries to help him while the older one pretends to herself and others that he is dead.This could be a downright depressing story but both of the girls are likeable characters and the story is mainly about how they live life, it is bleak in places but a good read

I really enjoyed this book. I have read true stories along this vein so am reassured Randy got it right. Very comprehensive and realistic insight into the effects of domestic violence on the victims especially if they are children. Very thought provoking the reason for 4 instead of the 5 stars is because I thought the ending didn't provide an adequate conclusion to the story.

I bought this on the recommendation of an American friend. It was such an unusual and well written book that I just couldn't put it down. The characters of the two daughters are portrayed with sensitivity, and the reader soon gets caught up in their complex emotions. I can't wait to read her next book...

This is a page turner. I loved it so much.I do highly recommend reading The Murderer's Daughters.