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Dancing with the Octopus

The Telling of a True Crime

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About this listen

One Omaha winter day in 1978, when Debora Harding was just 14, she was abducted at knife-point, thrown into a van, assaulted, held for ransom and left to die.

But what if this wasn't the most traumatic, defining event in her childhood?

Undertaking a radical project, Deborah Harding dexterously shifts between the past and present to unravel her story. From the immediate aftermath to the possibility of restorative justice 20 years later, Dancing with the Octopus lays bare the social and political forces that act upon us after the experience of serious crime. A vivid, sly and intimate portrait of one family's disintegration, this is a darkly humorous and ground-breaking narrative of reckoning and recovery.

©2020 Debora Harding (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK Witty
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Beautifully written. Full of hope, strength and a mixture of sadness, disbelief and inspiration.
The depth of the experiences is balanced beautifully with the injections of humour and light-heartedness. An honest story.
Initially, I didn’t think I would persist as the story seemed to start off slow, but boy am I pleased I did not give up. Very soon, I couldn’t wait to resume listening at every moment. A compelling read and I implore all to read or listen.

Compelling story

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Absolutely hooked , beautiful even though full of sadness, inspirational and a complete page turn (even though ℹ I’m listening) I’m blown away by the story telling of a true crime.

Hail Debora’s brilliance

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I'm full of admiration and total respect for Deborah Harding, this can't have been an easy book to write and narrate but I believe it will have helped many.
Thank you

Inspiring

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I loved Debora's voice as she almost dispassionately takes us through the trauma she suffered as well as the triumphs. She says in the QA that she was inspired by Montaigne's essays - they never shy away from difficult topics but there is always wit and hope. What happened to Debora is shocking. There is the kidnap and assault which she covers in such a way that it is bearable for the listener - what is far less bearable is her mother's behaviour. This A student, functioning lovely girl had a terrible ghastly selfish awful mother and I found myself shouting as I ran along I was so anguished by the lifelong drip drip drip of ghastly dysfunctional behaviour towards her precious daughters. Even in the aftermath of the terrible crime that befell Debora the mother still had zero empathy. Some mothers are jealous of their daughters and do everything to tear them down - she seems to come in to that category. The joyful thing in the book is Debora finding love with Thomas, who sounds so lovely. Other sad things happen, but all the time Debora tells us the story of her life without requesting our pity - I have enormous respect for this writer and think she is immensely brave. Courage is the first among the virtues from which all others spring and she's sent me back to Montaigne.

Desperately sad but also hopeful

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A difficult story, which despite not being written with the intention of helping others, will, has. I was left being so filled with love for the writer. The writing seems to remove the barriers of time, this called to me, existing in the present and the past in the same moment and unable to move around without both. I recommend this book as a thoughtful, witty, and beautiful record of a life continuously growing upwards and outwards despite the slings and arrows…

Very beautifully written and read.

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