Book description
June Thomson and Giselle Ross are inextricably linked by two
unspeakable acts of evil. On the same day, a few miles apart, their
estranged husbands slaughtered their children. The murders were not
driven by rage, or committed in moments of madness. They were planned,
and carried out with chilling precision, to inflict the worst pain imaginable.
une and Giselle did not know each other. Tragedy is all that binds
them; they were destined to come together as 'sisters', united by pain,
grief and a sense of loss so immense that it would drive both to the
brink of madness.
June's life with Rab Thomson had been a dark and turbulent existence,
characterised by mental torture, physical violence and rape. Giselle's
relationship with Ashok Kalyanjee had been a strange and distant affair,
of lives spent apart before, during and after marriage.
But both relationships had produced two beautiful children, and the
women believed that their misery was in the past. Both mothers believed
it was important to allow the fathers' access to their children. On that
fateful Saturday in May 2008, neither could have conceived that the men
they had once loved would do anything to harm their children. But they
were wrong, so terribly wrong.
Nothing can bring their children back. But June and Giselle have one
solitary comfort: they are no longer alone. Their lives may have been
torn apart, but they have each other. Together, they are stronger.
This is the story of their parallel journeys: of the dreadful days
before, during, and after the murders of their children. Told in their
own words, with searing honesty of their pain, and guilt, it is a story
of endurance, friendship, and survival against the odds. It is not a
story for the faint hearted, but it is a story that must be told, for in
the end, it is a testament to the human spirit. June Thomson was born
in Ayrshire. Growing up in a broken home left her with a legacy of
loneliness and isolation. When she met and married Rab Thomson she
mistook his jealousy for love. She soon learned it was a need to control
her. June endured 27 years with a man who beat and raped her. When she
finally found the courage to leave, Rab took a hellish revenge.
Giselle Ross was born in Glasgow into a home so loving that she did not
leave until she was 32 years old. She was swept off her feet by devious
charmer Ashok Kalyanjee. He persuaded her to elope and then quickly
isolated her from her family. The relationship was doomed before it
began, but when Giselle broke free, there was an appalling price to pay.
Marion Scott and Jim McBeth are a husband and wife team, helping June
and Giselle to tell their story. Marion is an award-winning journalist
with Scotland's biggest newspaper, The Sunday Mail. As well as winning
accolades for her campaigning work on child abuse issues and
miscarriages of justice, she has won the Campaigning Journalist of the
Year award. Jim has been writing for national newspapers for 43 years.
He currently works for the Daily Mail. He has also contributed to a
number of national television and BBC radio documentaries.
