Summer Reading: “Empty Cradle”
I just finished reading a fascinating book that my friend Pam lent me because she thought I would find it interesting. I am a big fan of British mystery series, but this book, based on a real life abduction of a baby that happened on December 23rd, 1993, has struck me to the core like no British mystery ever could—no matter how bloody.
“Empty Nest” was written by Diana Walsh years after the frightening abduction of her newborn baby. Writing her book acted as a form of therapy for PTS Syndrome that resulted from the trauma. I don’t want to give away too many of the surprising details of the book as you may want to read it, but I will say that the Walsh family lived, and still live, in Stoney Creek, ON, the same town where Pam and I grew up. The author mentions well-known landmarks such as the Attic Restaurant on King St, Orchard Park Secondary School--the same high school from where two of my daughters graduated, and the Escarpment, the scene of many Good Friday hikes. All are familiar names and places to “Creekers”. The abduction of Baby Shelby happened at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington—the same hospital where two of my daughters were born years earlier!
Diana Walsh has done a splendid job of switching back and forth between her story and the abductor’s story until fate brings them together on a cold winter’s afternoon just before Christmas, 1993. The locations, familiar to everyone in the Stoney Creek/Hamilton/Burlington/Aldershot area, continue to pop up in the book as the story unfolds: Big V Drugstore, now Shoppers Drugmart, (I once worked at Big V in Hamilton), and the former Town and Country Motel that is a 15 minute drive from my present dwelling where I comfortably sat reading Ms. Walsh’s book this past week, play important roles in this true life crime drama.
Some of you may remember new stories and reports of the abduction that reached beyond local and national print and broadcasts; but reading the words of the distraught mother telling her own story goes beyond the capability of anything you would read in a newspaper or see on TV. While the story is predominantly hers to tell, she also shares relative real life stories of children gone missing, whether supposed or actual fact, which reminded me of a time when I thought my youngest daughter was missing from the Ponderosa Restaurant in Hamilton, ON. Thankfully, my little 1 ½ year old, who had slid from the booth where she was sitting with her sisters to unknowingly follow me, was e found standing at the end of the food line watching diners place their orders. Small as she was, she could see me, but I couldn’t see her; so for a few minutes when I realized she was not with her sisters, I ran around the restaurant and out to the parking lot hysterically asking startled strangers, “Have you seen my baby?” Telling this story to you now stirs up the same feelings that I felt that day, so many years ago. My heart goes out to Diana, her husband and their family for the unbearable pain they must have suffered.
My friend Pam and I at the Village Restaurant in Stoney Creek, ON.
If you want a great book for your summer reading, one that you won’t want to put down until you know the outcome of the story, I recommend “Empty Nest”. I suggest you do not search out articles, or flip to the back of the book where you will find copies of articles from 1993, if you want the story to remain a mystery. Not knowing all the details certainly increased my anticipation. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next!
Thank you to my friend, Pam, for lending me one of the most intriguing books I have read in a while—definitely a page-turner.
Carolyn MacArthur, Editor, SIDEBURNS Magazine