Cry Bloody Murder: Remembrance & Healing

by Elaine DePrince

From the mother of ballerina, Michaela DePrince, and the coauthor of her memoir: Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina (Knopf 2014), comes an amazing non-fiction/memoir – CRY BLOODY MURDER: Remembrance and Healing.

In 1997 Random House published the first version of this book, CRY BLOODY MURDER: A Tale of Tainted Blood. In that book DePrince told how the manufacturers of the blood products used to treat hemophilia (a bleeding disorder), caused the deaths of nearly 10,000 American hemophiliacs when their products became contaminated with HIV. By 1997, DePrince’s two sons, Mike and Cubby were among the dead.

The author originally intended to simply republish her original book because it is out of print, but still required reading by some law schools, medical schools, and graduate programs. However, she decided that more of the story needed to be told. She felt that the readers would want to know what happened to her family after the deaths of Mike and Cubby. She was also receiving inquiries from fans of her daughter, Michaela, asking for more details about why she adopted daughters from Africa. DePrince believed that these questions could be best answered in a revised edition of her 1997 book.

CRY BLOODY MURDER: Remembrance and Healing includes the important facts that were part of the original version of the book. However, it also includes expanded human-interest portions of the story that are so touching, that they are guaranteed to move you to tears.

As one of the six daughters adopted from Africa by the DePrince Family, I am proud to introduce as my new publishing company’s first book, CRY BLOODY MURDER: Remembrance and Healing, by my mother, Elaine DePrince.

Mia Mabinty DePrince
Senior Editor of Sweet Mocha Music, LLC

Genres: Nonfiction

305 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 17, 1997

About the author

Elaine DePrince was an American author, hemophilia activist, teacher, and advocate of adoptive parenting. The mother of 11 children, she is best known as the adoptive mother of ballet star Michaela DePrince and the co-author of her memoir, Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina (2014). She was interviewed in the 2011 documentary First Position, discussing the racism they encountered as Michaela pursued training in classical ballet. She was also the author of Cry Bloody Murder: A Tale of Tainted Blood (1997), which tells the story of her family's ordeal after their three hemophiliac sons were infected with HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. In the book, DePrince holds pharmaceutical companies, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Hemophilia Foundation responsible for failing to ensure the safety of blood plasma products.

Reviews

[Simon Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to give this book a full review, but nothing I say could ever be enough.
Simply amazing

[Cherish · Rating 4 out of 5]

very sad story- heartbreaking. there are a lot of references to laws and courts- that include people and companies that my mind couldn't keep straight, but anything to deal with the personal stories of her children and their lives were not diminished due to it. I don't want to even imagine having children that i would have to watch die- for any reason really. these circumstances of her innocent children falling victim to medical negligence (at no fault of their own) is especially upsetting and such a big loss.
I looked online for a bit more info and learned that Elaine deprince died in 2024 a day after her daughter Michaela. how very sad.

[Eve Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is heart wrenching, inspiring and devastating.

[Fishface · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really devastating read. Along with a lot of material that made clear the utter failure of any commercial dealer in blood clotting factors to protect their customers from bloodborne diseases, the author explains what it was like to watch two of her sons die miserably of AIDS, with a third warming up in the bullpen as the book went to press.