Author(s): Lesley Elliott with Bill O'Brien

NZ Non-Fiction

Sophie Elliott had everything to live for, until her ex boyfriend decided otherwise. The gripping mother's tale of a murder that shocked New Zealand. Sophie Elliott had good looks, intelligence, friends, a loving family, a degree under her belt and a new job at the Treasury in Wellington. And then, the day before she left Dunedin to take up that job, she was brutally stabbed to death in her own home by her former boyfriend, Clayton Weatherston. He was much older and one of her lecturers at the university. When the public came to take his measure at his high-profile trial in 2010, his narcissistic, manipulative personality stunned the nation. The case also changed the New Zealand legal system's approach to the defence of provocation. Sophie's mother Lesley has weathered the horror of her daughter's death, and the gruelling process of the trial, to set up a foundation to help young women identify when they might be in an abusive relationship that puts them in harm's way - as Sophie was, unbeknownst to her and her family - and how to seek help.
This book is Lesley's tribute to a daughter she adored, her harrowing account of a tragedy no family should ever have to endure, and her inspiring decision to make sure that Sophie's legacy endures. It's also her challenge to the justice system on behalf of victims.