Wilma Derksen is launching her new book, The Way of Letting Go, which talks about her path of forgiveness after her daughter was murdered.

In 1984, Candace Derksen disappeared while walking home from school. Her body was found seven weeks later and Mark Edward Grant was accused of murder.

Wilma Derksen publicy came out when her daughter's body was discovered and said that she would forgive the murderer. "After that, we realized how much people did not understand that," Derksen said.

Derksen says that forgiveness has three parts. Some of it is religous, some is about relationships, but a great deal is lifestyle. "I wanted to explain what lifestyle forgiveness was, and that's really what the book is about."

She has identified 15 issues that she needed to let go, and what the root was. "You have to start from the very root of something and let go of that, rather than just the emotion."

32 years later, the Derksen's still don't have closure. Grant's retrial is happening now, but Derksen says they will stick to forgiveness.

"We are more convinced than ever that it is the way to go," Derksen says. "We really want to tell others that forgiveness works. After 32 years it still has brought us to a place of happiness and we thought it would be a place of sacrifice . . . yet it leads to an almost poetic justice where you somehow think you're losing but you're gaining."

It's not always easy. Derksen refuses to say that. "We do get angry, we are normal."

No one wants to lose a child the way the Derksen's had too, and Wilma hopes it will make people feel less lonely. She also hopes it will provide those who read it a foundation for those who this may happen to in the future.

"If I hadn't chosen [forgiveness], I would be in a very different place now."

The book launch takes place tonight at 7:00 p.m. at McNally Robinson, inside Grant Park Shopping Centre.