Jessie was 21. Molly was 11. Two days after their joint birthdays, their mom, Jill, was murdered by Molly’s father. In the hours, days, and years that followed, there was little room for grief. Jessie and Molly were expected to keep going — and they did. But that forward momentum came at a cost.

It’s been nearly 20 years, and only recently have Jessie and Molly begun to revisit what happened and what it’s meant to live with unspoken grief and unacknowledged trauma. As part of that process, they discovered a manila envelope packed away in storage - inside were eight children’s book manuscripts written by their mom in the 1980s. Finding those stories sparked a new chapter of connection with their mom and motivated them to work towards getting them illustrated and published.

Note: This conversation includes descriptions of domestic violence, stalking, violent death, and suicide. If you or someone you know needs support, see the list of resources below.

In this conversation, Jessie and Molly talk about:

What their mom was like and what she meant to each of them
Their vastly different experiences of the day she was killed
What stood in the way of them naming what they lived through as abuse and trauma
How grief became something they held privately, even from each other
The impact of finally receiving permission to feel and grieve
Their efforts to get their mom’s children’s stories published

Follow along and support their project: Barty Books on Instagram GoFundMe: Everyone Has A Story To Tell.

Dougy Center: https://www.dougy.org

National Domestic Violence Hotline - 1-800-799-7233 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline - 988

“We Just Kept Going” - Two Sisters, Twenty Years After Their Mom Was Killed