Spectral Evidence

National Magazine Award-winning author Moira Johnston tells the dramatic story of a "perfect" American family destroyed when a daughter's "flashbacks" of incestuous rape by her father turned to accusations and lawsuits - and of the explosive landmark trial in Napa Valley that gave a father, for the first time, the right to strike back legally at the therapists he believed had planted false memories of sexual abuse in his daughter's mind. Johnston sets the story of Gary, Stephanie, and Holly Ramona in the context of a broader concern over the destructive impact of uncorroborated memories of childhood sexual abuse, a controversy that has embroiled parents, adult children, and family therapists throughout the country and has stirred debate among feminists, psychologists, memory scientists, and lawyers.