Farm House Memoir

In the early hours of 7th August 1985, five members of the Bamber family were shot dead with a .22-calibre Anschutz rifle. Sheila Caffell, who was known to have struggled with mental illness, was at first thought to have murdered her twin sons and adoptive parents and then to have turned the gun on herself. Forensic evidence, however, told a different story and raised such questions as how Sheila could have received two shots in an act of suicide. A year later it was Jeremy Bamber, the only survivor, who was convicted of the callous murders of his entire family.

Jim May grew up in the 1950's, among farm people who had lived along Illinois's Nippersink Creek for generations. Stories told around the kitchen tables, front porches, and horse-trading barns brought laughs, inspired love, and helped ease the sometimes tragic turn of life's events. Speaking in the familiar voice of a longtime neighbor, May shares humorous and affecting events, as well as his Chicago Emmy Award winning tribute to his father, "A Bell for Shorty".

The creative force behind Blackberry Farm, Tennessee’s award-winning farm-to-table resort, reveals how she found herself only after losing everything in this powerful memoir of resilience. “I couldn’t put down this wise, honest, beautifully written story.”—Shauna Niequist, New...