Kirsten McGill

Kirsten McGill 'The Abortionists Daughter' by Elisabeth Hyde.

Elisabeth Hyde's novel is about characters seeking the truth, avoiding the truth or hiding the truth. This study will examine the extent to which characters actions help to convey the theme of truth and how the author uses the situation to reveal important aspects of the characters.

Elsabeth Hyde's novel, the abortionist's daughter is set on a mid-december day in Colorado. Dr Diana Duprey, an abortion doctor is found dead in her swimming pool. Due to her pro-abortion and pro-choice stance, Diana has made many enemies, thus making the investigation into her death much more difficult in obtaining the murderer. Intertwined in the novel are family secets, dark passion and a fatal obsession, which all contributes to finding Diana's killer.
Perhaps the character to hide and avoid the truth most relentlessly throughout the novel is Bill Branson, a former boyfriend of Diana's daughter, Megan. Bill suffers much emotional pain after Megan ends their relationship and his obsession with her makes him grow closer to Diana, who offers much emotional and mental support to him as his lust turns to obsession. However, Diana grew tired of his constant whimpering and self-pity of his break-up. "Leave her alone. Leave me alone. If you can't do that, then we'll get a restraining order." Still, it appears that Bill is aiding the police with their enquiries when he answers all their questions, provides them with information and reveals the dark secret of Diana's 'drug problem.'
"She was a 24/7 kinda gal and guess how? Pharmaceuticals"
However it was later revealed that Bills aegations were false and that he had lied to the police to hide his own involvement into Dr Duprey's death. Mr Branson's actions, however, only lead the police more towards him, as his constant lying and over-helpfullness in the case only conveys his need to hide his crime and deflect the the investigation from himself.
Furthermore; the actions of the other characters also lead the authorities to the truth of the murder. Frank Duprey, Diana's husband lied about his events on the night of Diana's death. He failed to mention that he had had an argument with Diana on the night of her death as he was discussing some photos he had found of Megan in a sexually provocative manner. "...the fact was he did blame Diana for what he had seen online." He did not want Megan to find out these had been published on the internet and so did not tell the police . However, Megan did not know this and when she found out that her father had not been honest with her, she found herself wondering whether or not he could kill his own wife.
The main investigating officer into Diana Duprey's death was Huck Ledger, during the course of the inquisition into her mother's murder Megan finds herself growing more and more fond of Mr Ledger. Over time their mutual feelings of desire develop into a sexual relationship. " Huck looked at Megan, who was lying on his sofa, curled up with her head in the crook of her elbow....He knew this was against everything he'd been taught, but something told him it was going to be necessary to break the rules here." Continuing their relationship, as Huck knows, puts the case and his job in jeapordy, as Megan is still a suspect in her mother's death. However, neither can stop the relationship and it continues throughout the course of the novel.
In addition to Frank Duprey's sketchy alibi, there was still the possibility that Diana's death could have been committed by an anti-abortionist. Dr Duprey's work as Director of 'The Center for Reproductive Choice' plagued her with may enemies. There were constant protesters, obscene phone calls and death threats; almost daily. One such extremist was a father who begged Diana to perform a termination on his daughter, Rose, as she was only fifteen years old and the baby's father was a Reverand. However, Rose insisted to Diana that a termination was not what she wanted to do and so against her father's pleas Diana refused to end the young girl's pregnancy. "I don't push women into having abortions.....I just push the reset button but only if they need me."
Throughout the case of Diana Duprey's death and the development of the characters lives, it is revealed that Bill Branson murdered Mrs Duprey as an act of revenge to punish Megan for the end of their relationship and to berate Dr Duprey for ending his 'friendship' with her. "...Her legs floated away from her. Her arms dissolved. Bullets sprayed from her eyes as he yanked hard, one final time. The last thing she saw was the water, sparkles above her head, the color green, columns of bubbles rising away from her."
Hyde's careful use of sentence structure conveys the pattern of Diana's death. The two short sentences convey the panic and desperate fight for survival, where the final long sentence with much pausing portrays the end of hope and the slow passing of her life. Ironically, considering the brutality of the way Diana was murdered "he grabbed her ponytail and whipped her around....he gave her kneck another snap with enough force that the back of her head hit the side of the pool...he held her under while she flailed around gasping for air" Hyde manages to make her death peaceful almost calm with the use of words such as "sparkles... green...bubbles." Perhaps the attitude that Hyde displays towards Diana's death is a reflection on the way Diana herself viewed death. She does not go into great detail to Dr Duprey's murder and describes it a soothing manner as opposed to the morbid nightmare it is often depicted as.
In conclusion, The Abortionists Daughter discusses, in detail many issues all plagued with the under-lying themes of truth and deception. Diana Duprey is a character who forces the reader to evaluate their own views about abortion and whether they agree or disagree with the use of terminating surgery. Hyde's use of language and sentence structure displayed to reflect the situation makes the book a gripping and emotional read. I would definately recommend this book to people who like a compelling book, as it is not only enjoyable but thought - provoking as well.