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The Stranger Inside: The True Story of the Woman Who Married a Sex Offender
When Shannon Moroney married Jason Staples in October 2005, she had no idea that her happy life as a newlywed was about to come crashing down around her. One month after her wedding, a police officer arrived at her door with the news that her husband had been arrested and charged with the brutal sexual assault and kidnapping of two women, taking them to the house he shared with Shannon to commit the acts of violence. In the aftermath of the crimes, Shannon dealt with a heavy burden of grief, the stress and publicity of a major criminal investigation, and the painful stigma of guilt by association - all the while attempting to understand what had made Jason commit such violence.
In this intimate and gripping journey into the human heart, Shannon reveals the far-reaching impact of Jason's crimes and the agonizing choices faced by the loved ones of offenders. She also tells the powerful story of how she made the amazing transition from being a member of the 'trauma club' to completely rebuilding her life. This is an impassioned, harrowing and ultimately hopeful story of one woman's pursuit of justice, forgiveness and healing.
In this intimate and gripping journey into the human heart, Shannon reveals the far-reaching impact of Jason's crimes and the agonizing choices faced by the loved ones of offenders. She also tells the powerful story of how she made the amazing transition from being a member of the 'trauma club' to completely rebuilding her life. This is an impassioned, harrowing and ultimately hopeful story of one woman's pursuit of justice, forgiveness and healing.
357 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Shannon Moroney
7 books26 followersThrough the Glass is an intimate and gripping journey into prisons, courtrooms and the human heart in which Shannon Moroney reveals the widespread ripple effect of her husband’s crimes, the agonizing choices faced by the loved ones of offenders and the implicit dangers of a correctional system and a society that prioritizes retribution over rehabilitation, and victimhood over recovery.
Shannon’s story sparks discussion and debate about gaps in the justice system, the treatment of direct and collateral victims, offender accountability, and the future of prisons. It also inspires readers to consider the role forgiveness might play in their own lives—no matter how they have been wronged.
Through the Glass became an instant bestseller when it was released across Canada in 2011 and was nominated for several awards, including the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award (Canada) and the Arthur Ellis Award for Crime Writing. It was listed in CBC's Canada Reads Top 40 (2012) and has also been adopted as required reading at several high schools, colleges and universities. It is currently on the Top 10 List at the Empathy Library.
Through the Glass made its international debut in 2012 (titled The Stranger Inside in the UK only) and has been featured in major newspapers around the world including The Guardian (UK), The National Post (Canada), The Huffington Post, and The Globe and Mail, as well as numerous magazines such as Maclean’s and Chatelaine (Canada), That’s Life (Australia), Bella (UK), Welt der Wunder (Germany), Swiat Wiedzy (Poland), and You (South Africa).
Today, Shannon lives in Toronto where she is remarried and the mother of two-year-old twin girls. She is a sought-after public speaker, member of the international Forgiveness Project, and a volunteer with the award-winning youth program, Leave Out ViolencE (LOVE). She regularly gives public talks, guest lectures, and visits schools, book clubs and inmate groups that are reading her book. She also leads workshops on writing, forgiveness and restorative justice.
Shannon’s story sparks discussion and debate about gaps in the justice system, the treatment of direct and collateral victims, offender accountability, and the future of prisons. It also inspires readers to consider the role forgiveness might play in their own lives—no matter how they have been wronged.
Through the Glass became an instant bestseller when it was released across Canada in 2011 and was nominated for several awards, including the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award (Canada) and the Arthur Ellis Award for Crime Writing. It was listed in CBC's Canada Reads Top 40 (2012) and has also been adopted as required reading at several high schools, colleges and universities. It is currently on the Top 10 List at the Empathy Library.
Through the Glass made its international debut in 2012 (titled The Stranger Inside in the UK only) and has been featured in major newspapers around the world including The Guardian (UK), The National Post (Canada), The Huffington Post, and The Globe and Mail, as well as numerous magazines such as Maclean’s and Chatelaine (Canada), That’s Life (Australia), Bella (UK), Welt der Wunder (Germany), Swiat Wiedzy (Poland), and You (South Africa).
Today, Shannon lives in Toronto where she is remarried and the mother of two-year-old twin girls. She is a sought-after public speaker, member of the international Forgiveness Project, and a volunteer with the award-winning youth program, Leave Out ViolencE (LOVE). She regularly gives public talks, guest lectures, and visits schools, book clubs and inmate groups that are reading her book. She also leads workshops on writing, forgiveness and restorative justice.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 21, 2012
What would you do if you had been married for just one month and you were told while you were away from home at a work conference that your new husband had kidnapped and sexually assaulted two women? It is easy to see this as a black/white situation and many will react by saying they would sever all ties and file for divorce, change their name, move on and put it all behind them. But life is rarely that simple. Shannon Moroney found herself in this unenviable position when her husband Jason gave himself up to the police for the crime. In this book she tells her story and it is one of anger, grief and pity as well as one of hope, faith, forgiveness and redemption. It moved me to tears on many occasions.
‘The Stranger Inside’ tells how she found herself in the middle of a maelstrom. Many of her friends supported her in any way they could, both practically and emotionally. Others gave her intrusive and unsolicited advice about cutting all ties with Jason and building new life for herself immediately, shutting the door on her past and her mistakes. Yet more abused her and considered her as guilty as Jason himself. Shannon knew when she married Jason that he was on parole having committed murder when he was a teenager. She had known this almost from the moment she met him. He had given her many chances to end their relationship if she did not feel she could cope with the situation.
But Jason was one of Canada’s parole systems successes and he had been living his own life with less and less supervision outside prison for several years. He had made many friends and the professionals involved with his case believed that the murder was an isolated incident, that Jason expressed remorse for it and that his life had moved on. Shannon was confident that Jason had his life back on track and they planned a future together. She herself had a job as a school counsellor which she loved and everything seemed to be going well for them when they married having lived together for a time.
Then came the day when Jason held two women at gun point. To do him justice he called the police himself and made a full confession, saying he would plead guilty so that his victims would not have to relive their ordeals in court. His account of the crimes agreed in almost every detail with the statements of his victims. He did not seek to use anything in his childhood, though it was not a happy one and he was abused, to excuse or explain his crimes and nor does Shannon in her book make any excuses for him.
I found this a moving and harrowing book to read. It is simply written in a relatively low key style and has the ring of truth about it. I could sympathise with the author and admire her courage in building a new life for herself. It is all too easy to judge the family and friends of a criminal and to make them scapegoats. You see it all the time with high profile cases ‘She must have known what he was like.’ But do we ever really know our nearest and dearest and the worst of which they are capable? I would say that we can never truly see inside the mind of another person.
Should Shannon have walked away from Jason? Many accused of her of not being aware of the severity of his crimes but she was told the details by the police as soon as they realised that she was neither an accessory nor an accomplice. She does not try to minimise or explain away the crimes and is constantly asking questions about the victims. But she herself is also a victim of Jason’s actions in so many ways.
Many women reading about this book will have the instant reaction of revulsion – how could she visit someone in jail who had raped other women? It is against all the tenets of the sisterhood. But I would urge them to look further than this understandable and knee jerk reaction. Shannon has had to rebuild her life, work through her own grief and disillusionment and her loss of faith in her own judgement. She needs our support and our sympathy every bit as much as the victims of the crimes for which her husband went to jail.
‘The Stranger Inside’ tells how she found herself in the middle of a maelstrom. Many of her friends supported her in any way they could, both practically and emotionally. Others gave her intrusive and unsolicited advice about cutting all ties with Jason and building new life for herself immediately, shutting the door on her past and her mistakes. Yet more abused her and considered her as guilty as Jason himself. Shannon knew when she married Jason that he was on parole having committed murder when he was a teenager. She had known this almost from the moment she met him. He had given her many chances to end their relationship if she did not feel she could cope with the situation.
But Jason was one of Canada’s parole systems successes and he had been living his own life with less and less supervision outside prison for several years. He had made many friends and the professionals involved with his case believed that the murder was an isolated incident, that Jason expressed remorse for it and that his life had moved on. Shannon was confident that Jason had his life back on track and they planned a future together. She herself had a job as a school counsellor which she loved and everything seemed to be going well for them when they married having lived together for a time.
Then came the day when Jason held two women at gun point. To do him justice he called the police himself and made a full confession, saying he would plead guilty so that his victims would not have to relive their ordeals in court. His account of the crimes agreed in almost every detail with the statements of his victims. He did not seek to use anything in his childhood, though it was not a happy one and he was abused, to excuse or explain his crimes and nor does Shannon in her book make any excuses for him.
I found this a moving and harrowing book to read. It is simply written in a relatively low key style and has the ring of truth about it. I could sympathise with the author and admire her courage in building a new life for herself. It is all too easy to judge the family and friends of a criminal and to make them scapegoats. You see it all the time with high profile cases ‘She must have known what he was like.’ But do we ever really know our nearest and dearest and the worst of which they are capable? I would say that we can never truly see inside the mind of another person.
Should Shannon have walked away from Jason? Many accused of her of not being aware of the severity of his crimes but she was told the details by the police as soon as they realised that she was neither an accessory nor an accomplice. She does not try to minimise or explain away the crimes and is constantly asking questions about the victims. But she herself is also a victim of Jason’s actions in so many ways.
Many women reading about this book will have the instant reaction of revulsion – how could she visit someone in jail who had raped other women? It is against all the tenets of the sisterhood. But I would urge them to look further than this understandable and knee jerk reaction. Shannon has had to rebuild her life, work through her own grief and disillusionment and her loss of faith in her own judgement. She needs our support and our sympathy every bit as much as the victims of the crimes for which her husband went to jail.
June 26, 2013
The commercials of "The Stranger Inside" gave me the impression that the book would be about a husband who led a double life while his wife had no idea at all. So I was shocked when I found out that the wife had married a convicted murderer and she had been aware of it. This gave me the impression that Shannon Moroney could be a person who wants to manipulate her readers. But after asking her I had to learn that she isn´t happy with the marketing of the book either. It´s not her idea to present her story like this. What her story really is about is her experience as a criminal´s wife. Though she didn´t commit a crime she is confronted with a stigma put on her. Though her life was damaged by her husband´s crimes as well she isn´t considered to be a victim. Shannon Moroney marries a man who has killed a woman when he was 18. All experts agree that Jason is fully rehabilitated and will have a normal life so Shannon decides to take the risk and marry him. But only a few weeks afterwards Jason is arrested for kidnapping and raping 2 women. Shannon Moroney is devastated. In detail she describes the police investigation, the reaction of her friends and family and the consequences she has to face. For example her career as a school teacher comes to an end when she doesn´t agree to move to another school. She is lucky to have a friend who can diagnose her with post traumatic stress disorder so she is able to fight her way through. Shannon Moroney wants to raise awareness for the damages done by crime; not only the people who are directly confronted with violence but also indirectly involved people experience trauma, loss and destruction. Shannon Moroney describes her story in detail and makes it easy to understand. The only downside of the book is that she was getting all the support and she was treated well. So she is no good example of all the victims who are let down. On the other hand Simon & Schuster wanted to present a success story and most victims cannot present that. If you are a victim of crime here are 358 pages of help you deserve. As the real victims hardly get aid it´s a little provocative to complain about family members of criminals not getting enough help but it´s okay. Violence causes more victims than the legal system is revealing and all of them deserve help.
July 17, 2013
What an amazing book. Few could imagine the truly horrendous situation Shannon suddenly finds herself in. Her new husband is guilty of an horrific crime and she finds herself living through an almost unimaginable nightmare!!!
When the policeman walks to your door its bad news but in my personal opinion this news was even worse than hearing of the death of someone you love. Thrust into a nightmare, this is a very honest, personal account of how Shannon lives through this situation.
What I learnt from this book... what sort of a friend are we? If a truly terrible situation (terminal illness, sudden tragic death, victim of terror attack, or natural disaster or this type of situation), happened to a close friend or relative, how would you react? Could you be a supportive, caring friend or would you be thoughtless or worse, unkind and cold. Shannon got through this due to timely medical help and very supportive family and friends.
A deeply moving, very thought provoking book. One not forgotten easily.
When the policeman walks to your door its bad news but in my personal opinion this news was even worse than hearing of the death of someone you love. Thrust into a nightmare, this is a very honest, personal account of how Shannon lives through this situation.
What I learnt from this book... what sort of a friend are we? If a truly terrible situation (terminal illness, sudden tragic death, victim of terror attack, or natural disaster or this type of situation), happened to a close friend or relative, how would you react? Could you be a supportive, caring friend or would you be thoughtless or worse, unkind and cold. Shannon got through this due to timely medical help and very supportive family and friends.
A deeply moving, very thought provoking book. One not forgotten easily.
March 18, 2018
It was a really good read. Not at all what I had expected to read at the beginning as the book was passed on to me as 'a good read'. It was so compelling all that Shannon had to go through and so hard to understand that after all she understood that Jason had a problem and stood by his side all the time. It's a moral question if many people would do that. She was really strong and it so inspiring. I´m glad she wrote the book as there´s definitely more people out there than she though that is passing through the same situation. Recommended read!
March 21, 2021
Wow! What an incredible lady Shannon is!
My first autobiography and to be honest, I can't remember buying it but I'm so glad I did! She tells her story so, so well, you can't help but be inspired by her. A fascinating, thought provoking insight into those who commit serious crimes and the families left behind; the lack of support for victims and the correlation between ACEs (adverse childhood experiences and offending.
A must read.
My first autobiography and to be honest, I can't remember buying it but I'm so glad I did! She tells her story so, so well, you can't help but be inspired by her. A fascinating, thought provoking insight into those who commit serious crimes and the families left behind; the lack of support for victims and the correlation between ACEs (adverse childhood experiences and offending.
A must read.
April 30, 2019
Brilliant gripping book which I devoured in 2 days. Really heartbreaking as well as addictive page turner. Always recommend this to everyone.
October 16, 2023
Beautifully written!
May 7, 2019
It took me longer to read this than most books do. I felt like giving up before the end as it seemed to drag on. I did like the ending although it seemed to end quickly and I would have liked to read more about what happened after that
August 29, 2014
A very good book. I was wrong to keep putting off reading this book and placing it at the bottom of the pile.
A genuine, honest and well rounded account of how such an unprecedented event in your idyllic life, blasts your world apart and leaves you questioning even yourself. I felt the author was honest in words regarding her thought processes relating to the victims.
I'm sure most readers would assume love stops when such an event happens to you, but love lingers on and cannot be turned off immediately. The author's utter commitment to her husband and v slow withdrawal from him is understandable, if viewed objectively.
It is easy to say the writing was on the wall after the first confession at the commencement of their friendship, but the psychopathic mind is very devious, manipulative and can make even the most sensible and grounded person throw caution to the wind. Never underestimate how blind love is.
What was a pleasant surprise, was that the author, who is Canadian, studied in my hometown.
A pleasing book with a well deserved ending.
I left grateful I haven't been in Shannon's shoes.
A genuine, honest and well rounded account of how such an unprecedented event in your idyllic life, blasts your world apart and leaves you questioning even yourself. I felt the author was honest in words regarding her thought processes relating to the victims.
I'm sure most readers would assume love stops when such an event happens to you, but love lingers on and cannot be turned off immediately. The author's utter commitment to her husband and v slow withdrawal from him is understandable, if viewed objectively.
It is easy to say the writing was on the wall after the first confession at the commencement of their friendship, but the psychopathic mind is very devious, manipulative and can make even the most sensible and grounded person throw caution to the wind. Never underestimate how blind love is.
What was a pleasant surprise, was that the author, who is Canadian, studied in my hometown.
A pleasing book with a well deserved ending.
I left grateful I haven't been in Shannon's shoes.
February 21, 2014
Most powerful and meaningful book I have ever read. What Shannon has been through is truly horrific, yet she truly has triumphed over tragedy and gives the reader the power to feel they can do the same, regardless of challenges in the way. I found it a book I could not put down, and then even reread , which is something I rarely do. But there was so much to glean from just one read. Shannon is someone who has life figured out and through the memoir she gives practical examples and thought provoking passages that can be applied to benefit any readers life. Her writing style is exceptional and so honest yet she never whines, complains or judges others, when she has every reason to. She makes one want to get out there and help change the justice system, and their own life!
December 29, 2013
An amazing read. It brings up a lot of questions in relation to the place of forgiveness. How does one forgive when confronted with unspeakable violence. I still have many questions.
August 11, 2016
definitely worth reading.
January 12, 2016
Powerful and moving!!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews