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I decided to walk away from my mother when I discovered she murdered my step-father. I was in my 30’s then and shortly before had learned she murdered who I thought was a stranger. I didn’t realize the man she murdered was my biological father until my 50’s. That is only the beginning of what I learned my mother kept from us – my sisters, step-siblings, the police, and me.

My memoir, Walking Away: Unburied Truths of my Murderous Mother, tells the simple and relatable story of a woman falling in love, having two children, supporting her husband, getting divorced and finding my footing. But all of this is tainted by my slow discovery that my mother got away with multiple murders. To call this a “rags to riches” story – I was born in a small town to a loving father but raised by our drunk mother who left him; put myself through college; built my own businesses; and then married a man who eventually pulled in millions – undersells what really happened: that I grappled with raising children because I knew what was in our bloodline; that I had to learn what forgiveness meant in order to ensure my family stayed honest; and that I had to overcome myself in order to live a life without pain.

There are thousands of self-help books that teach people how to handle relationships differently, how to talk and act. But there are not many that explain what it feels like to choose to walk away; to raise your children only knowing that you need to do the opposite of what was done to you; or to struggle to know whether or not to share any of your past with your children. This book is for all the individuals out there that have discovered unsettling realities about their families, and who want to continue to live a beautiful and productive life despite the earth shattering revelations.