The Officer´s Daughter: A Memoir of Family and Forgiveness

"The Officer´s Daughter is a powerful dissertation on the legacy of violence; a telling journey to the place in the heart where forgiveness is found. Elle Johnson´s words are beautiful, poignant, and painful; and always deeply resonant with truth. This book has an echo that stays with you well after you have turned the last page."--Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author "A beautiful and emotional memoir of a family tragedy. . . . This searing story deserves a wide readership."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "When I was sixteen, my sixteen-year-old cousin, Karen, had her face blown off at pointblank range by a sawed-off shotgun . . ." ?In 1981, Elle Johnson and her cousin, Karen, were both daughters of Black law enforcement officers. Elle´s father was a highly protective, at times overbearing, parole officer; her uncle, Karen´s dad, was a homicide detective. Elle dreamed of being best friends with her popular, cool cousin, who understood her in a way no one else could. Then Karen was killed in a robbery gone wrong. The NYPD and FBI launched a cross-country manhunt to find the killers, and the subsequent trials and media circus marked the end of Elle´s childhood innocence. Thirty years later, Elle--living in Los Angeles and working as a television writer on scripted police dramas--received an unexpected request from Karen´s brother. Would Elle write a letter asking that Karen´s killer not be released on parole? Suddenly, Elle realized she didn´t know if she would or could--until she´d faced some hard truths of her own past: of a family who didn´t speak of the murder and its devastating effect, of the secrets they buried, of a complicated father she never truly understood. The Officer´s Daughter is a piercing memoir that explores what parents can and cannot do to protect their children, the reverberations of violence on survivors´ lives, and the overwhelming power of forgiveness, even in the face of unspeakable pain.