Publisher, Tantor Media (April 2009)

NOTE: RETAIL EDITIONS are packaged in attractive, compact cardboard, jewel-case or DVD shrink-wrapped cases, with full-color art.

Listen to a FREE audio clip.

"A touching and beautiful example of the power of faith and forgiveness. Its message of hope should reverberate far beyond the halls of justice." ---Sr. Helen Prejean, csj, author of Dead Man Walking

"Few people have done more to put a human face on issues involving wrongful convictions than Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton." ---Janet Reno, former U.S. Attorney General

"[A] remarkable testament.... A MUST read." ---Studs Terkel, author of Touch and Go

"Injustice and redemption are overused words, but this heartfelt joint memoir justifies its subtitle." ---Kirkus

"Touching" ---Library Journal

"Unforgettable" ---Chicago Sun Times

In this true and inspiring book, a unique and transcendent friendship rises from the depths of a shocking crime and a devastating miscarriage of justice.

Jennifer Thompson was raped at knifepoint by a man who broke into her apartment while she slept. She was able to escape and eventually identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker. Ronald insisted that she was mistaken---but Jennifer's positive identification was the compelling evidence that put him behind bars. After eleven years, Ronald was allowed to take a DNA test that proved his innocence. He was released after serving more than a decade in prison for a crime he never committed. Two years later, Jennifer and Ronald met face to face---and forged an unlikely friendship that changed both of their lives.

In their own words, Jennifer and Ronald unfold the harrowing details of their tragedy, and challenge our ideas of memory and judgment while demonstrating the profound nature of human grace and the healing power of forgiveness.

About the Authors: Jennifer Thompson-Cannino lives in North Carolina with her family. She speaks frequently about the need for judicial reform and is a member of the North Carolina Actual Innocence Commission, the advisory committee for Active Voices, and the Constitution Project. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, the Durham-Herald Sun, and the Tallahassee Democrat.

Ronald Cotton lives with his wife and daughter in North Carolina. He has spoken on the topic of criminal justice and its flaws at various schools and conferences, including Washington and Lee University, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Georgetown Law School, and the Community March for Justice for Troy Anthony Davis in Savannah, Georgia.

Erin Torneo, a writer based in Los Angeles, is coauthor of The Bridal Wave: A Survival Guide to the Everyone-I-Know-Is-Getting-Married Years. She was a 2007 New York Foundation for the Arts Nonfiction Fellow.

About the Narrators: Richard Allen was named an AudioFile Best Voice in 2008. He is a four-time Audie Award nominee and has won four AudioFile Earphones Awards. His audiobooks include From Midnight to Dawn, Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney, Futureland, and Right as Rain.

Karen White is an actress who has performed on stage, film, and television, and whose work has taken her to Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. Her credits include many Shakespeare plays, the films The Out-of-Towners and Monument Ave., and appearances on The Drew Carey Show and Party of Five. Karen is also a voice coach, and she has taught voice and acting at Brandeis University and Emerson College. She has narrated more than forty audiobooks and has received two AudioFile Earphones Awards, one for Another Song About the King by Kathryn Stern and one for My Kind of Place by Susan Orlean. Karen's other audiobooks include The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland, the Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross, and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series by Betty MacDonald. She lives with her family in Los Angeles, California.