Nightingale: A Memoir of Murder, Madness, and the Messenger of Spring

"Nightingale" is the astonishing true story of Elisabeth Mannering Congdon, heiress to a mining fortune and victim of one of Minnesota’s most notorious homicides. Entrusted with the burdens and joys of memory, Elisabeth’s eldest granddaughter, Suzanne Congdon LeRoy, combines lived experience with meticulous historical research, detailing a perilous journey as she tries to escape her own mother, a dangerous serial criminal falling deeper into madness. Elisabeth Congdon emerges not as heiress or victim but as the messenger of spring and the key to her granddaughter’s survival. Her early efforts to nurture a foundation of hope, optimism, and the power of possibility lead Suzanne to advanced education, a remarkable nursing career and the discovery of the ineffable relationship between healing oneself, service to others, and the connection to the spirit and beauty of the earth that makes her whole again. "Nightingale" is a book of rare power, beauty, and hope.