The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir

This is a grimly fascinating, empathic, and provocative examination of the killing of six year old Jeremy Guillory by Ricky Langley, a troubled paedophile who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder. Marzano-Lesnevich dives into Langley's past, exploring his upbringing and the possible motivations behind Jeremy's murder, whilst also reflecting on and discovering parallels with her own childhood, which was wracked with sexual abuse by her grandfather. She details how her family dealt with this revelation when she finally worked up the courage to tell them, and perhaps the most poignant part of the book recalls Marzano-Lesnevich returning to her family home after some time away to find that every photo of her grandfather had been removed, plucked from every frame and album and destroyed, even from her parents wedding photos.

“I found love letters between my parents, and fighting letters, reminders that we are all mysteries to one another.”