Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

Prime suspect

The limits of justice in Western Australia
by
July–August 2010, no. 323

Ciara's Gift: Grief Edged with Gold by Una Glennon

UWA Publishing, $29.95 hb, 115 pp

Book 2 Cover Small (400 x 600)

Murderer No More: Andrew Mallard and the epic fight that proved his innocence by Colleen Egan

Allen & Unwin, $32.99 pb, 303 pp

Prime suspect

The limits of justice in Western Australia
by
July–August 2010, no. 323

In 1996–97, three young women were abducted from the nightclub area of Claremont in Perth, and murdered. One of them was a young lawyer, Ciara Glennon. Her mother, Una Glennon, has written a memoir of her passage from despair, anger and grief to a mature and rounded understanding of the complexity of the human condition. Her book is a wise and beautiful one – written sparingly, without unnecessary personal embellishment. ‘Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards,’ she says, quoting Kierkegaard. Thirteen years after Ciara’s death, Una Glennon has reached the point where she can write:

Never had I felt so much pain, yet never had I felt so much joy in the simple pleasures of life. Never had I felt so dead inside, yet never had I felt so alive to the external world around me. Never had I felt God so present in my life and so mysteriously a part of what I was experiencing ... A shift had occurred and I was finally able to accept Ciara’s death. The stranglehold of grief loosened and … I emerged a different person with a different perspective on life.

Ciara's Gift: Grief Edged with Gold

Ciara's Gift: Grief Edged with Gold

by Una Glennon

UWA Publishing, $29.95 hb, 115 pp

Murderer No More: Andrew Mallard and the epic fight that proved his innocence

Murderer No More: Andrew Mallard and the epic fight that proved his innocence

by Colleen Egan

Allen & Unwin, $32.99 pb, 303 pp

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.