Suspense: Twelve years living and longing on death row

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'Do you know what's the worst sitting here in this cell, Marit? Never to get the smell of soil and grass. I haven't set foot on green grass for five years'
This is the story of Ivan Ray Murphy Jr who, at the age of 28, was condemned to death for the murder of a defenceless old woman. In his youth Murphy had regularly mowed the lawn of the victim, his grandmother's friend and neighbour.

Over a period of ten years and through the medium of more than a hundred letters, Murphy, who was known as Pee-Wee, shared his innermost thoughts with his twenty years older Norwegian pen friend, the author of this book, Marit Lund Bødtker, and in so doing afforded her an insight into a hitherto completely unknown world. The author twice travelled to the prison in Huntsville, Texas, where Murphy was held and from where he worked tirelessly to regain his freedom. In the course of their long friendship, at the condemned man's urging Marit Lund Bødtker agreed to write a book about his life. This is that book.

'Whether he is innocent, as he claims to be, or guilty, Murphy is first and foremost a human being, a man with his own personal strengths and weaknesses, dreams and aspirations. In all probability readers will sometimes find themselves agreeing with him, at other times totally at variance with his conduct and opinions, just as they do with other people they meet or read about.' From the afterword by John Peder Egenæs, Secretary General, Amnesty International Norway

Marit Lund Bødtker (b. 1941), a librarian and journalist by profession, is the author of a wide range of books, both fiction and non-fiction, for children and adults. This is her eighth book.

Basil Cowlishaw has been resident in Norway since 1949 and has translated numerous articles, tourist brochures, scientific treatises, plays and books. This book is his latest translation from Norwegian.