Spectral Evidence: The Ramona Case : Incest, Memory, and Truth on Trial in Napa Valley - Hardcover

Johnston, Moira

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395718228 ISBN 13: 9780395718223

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 1997

Synopsis

Relates the ordeal of one family torn apart by a daughter's claim of sexual abuse by her father, which she remembered through her therapists' recovered memory techniques

About this title

Review

Gary and Stephanie Ramona were part of a fairly typical, affluent Napa Valley family when Holly, the eldest of their three daughters, "remembered" her father raping her. Though the Ramona family was far from cohesive, Holly's accusations destroyed whatever glue had held them together. The lines were drawn clearly: the women of the family, Stephanie and her three daughters, shut Gary out swiftly and surely. Hoping to win his children back, he fought back the only way he knew how. The lawsuit he brought against Holly's therapist, whom he believed planted Holly's disturbing memories, set a precedent, and it would inevitably affect both the counseling profession and this gentrified community the Ramonas called home.

Spectral Evidence tells the story of a modern-day witch trial, a sad and disturbing battle in which nobody wins. This harrowing account of sheltered elite lives suddenly thrust into a national spotlight raises more questions than it answers. Johnston's approach to the subject is evenhanded: there are no true villains, nor are there heroes. The story is riveting, and Johnston is fair yet passionate. --Lisa Higgins

From the Back Cover

National Magazine Award-winning author Moira Johnston tells the dramatic story of a "perfect" American family destroyed when a daughter's "flashbacks" of incestuous rape by her father turned to accusations and lawsuits - and of the explosive landmark trial in Napa Valley that gave a father, for the first time, the right to strike back legally at the therapists he believed had planted false memories of sexual abuse in his daughter's mind. Johnston sets the story of Gary, Stephanie, and Holly Ramona in the context of a broader concern over the destructive impact of uncorroborated memories of childhood sexual abuse, a controversy that has embroiled parents, adult children, and family therapists throughout the country and has stirred debate among feminists, psychologists, memory scientists, and lawyers.

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0395718228
• ISBN 13: 9780395718223
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 440