Lifestyle Reporter.
‘Two days after we buried my mother’s ashes, my father was murdered.’
Robin McGregor, retired and living in a small village outside Cape Town, is brutally murdered in his home. A family converges to mourn.
His daughter, the author of this searing, intimate memoir, tries in vain to move beyond her grief. She medicates, buries herself in work, she even finds love, but still she wants answers. What drove Cecil Thomas to torture and kill a complete stranger? The author meets the murderer’s family and discovers that he comes from a loving, comfortable home. He is educated and skilled. There is no apparent reason for his descent into delinquency.
After protracted obstruction from the prison authorities, Liz McGregor finally gets to confront him but not without putting herself in danger. She finds answers, but not the ones she is looking for.
Unforgiven tells a story seldom told: what happens to a family when one of their own is murdered? In a country where year on year tens of thousands of people lose a loved one to violence, where restorative justice is preached but not practised, where prisons are universities of crime – what would it take to achieve redemption? For the victim, the perpetrator and the country? And for a daughter to find solace.
About the Author
Liz McGregor has written and edited several books including Load-shedding, At Risk, Touch Pause Engage, the Springbok Factory and Khabzela. She has worked as a journalist in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Seoul and London, including several years as deputy editor of the op-ed section of The Guardian. She currently lives in Cape Town and London.