If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

by Gregg Olsen

She’d done exactly what she’d wanted to do.

Making people unhappy was her way of having fun.

Shelly possessed was like that of nightshade berries. They appear to be delicious but are actually dangerous. Innocent. Sweet. A mask.

Lara and Les came to know something that few understood in the late sixties and seventies: no one can help a troubled person who doesn’t think they need it.

Shelly being gone was a very good thing. Less drama. Less worrying. Less of everything that tied the stomachs of those around her into knots.

And then the cycle would spin out of control again.

I loved my mother because I didn’t know I had a choice. I had to love her.”