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.