In Loving Memory of Natasha: My Daughter, A Warrior, and a Mother’s Fight for Justice

“My daughter Natasha was beautiful and real; she was very loving. Her life was not fiction, nor was mine, or anyone else’s.”

I lost my daughter, Natasha, to cancer in 1990. No mother is ever prepared to bury her child. But what makes this loss even more painful is what came after.

I always knew my story, my family’s story, was ours to tell. But when I read Come to Grief by Dick Francis years later, I was shattered to realize that Dick Francis had taken that story without permission, without even the decency to ask.

Natasha was more than just a part of my life — she was my heart, my strength, and my joy. She was the reason I woke up every morning and kept going, even in the hardest of times. Her life was filled with love, laughter, and a fierce will to fight — even as she bravely battled a cruel illness. She was a warrior, not a fictional character.

But in the pages of Come to Grief, Dick Francis turned her into something unrecognizable — a mere plot point, a fictional character who existed only to serve his story. And what makes it worse is that Francis and his publishers have continued to profit from the pain we lived through — using our grief to sell a book without our consent.

The pain of losing Natasha is something I can never fully express in words. But it is made even more unbearable by the knowledge that our most private moments — the moments that should have been ours alone — were stolen and transformed into a fictional story.

When I read that book, I saw my daughter’s name and our family’s pain twisted into something that didn’t belong to him. It wasn’t his to take. It wasn’t his to profit from. Yet Francis turned our life into entertainment. And my daughter’s memory was used to line the pockets of the publishers.

This website is my stand. It is the story I have fought so hard to tell. Natasha’s life was real, and it wasn’t his to steal. Through this page, I’ll share the truth — the real story behind Come to Grief, and the fight that I’ve been waging for years to reclaim my family’s narrative.

I’m not here just to share my pain. I’m here because I want justice. I want the world to know that the story Dick Francis wrote was stolen, and it’s time for those responsible to face the consequences. Natasha deserves to be remembered for who she truly was — not as a fictional character but as a real, vibrant young girl whose life was full of love and light.

This fight isn’t just mine. It’s for all those whose stories have been taken, manipulated, and distorted for someone else’s gain. It’s for everyone who’s ever felt their pain and truth erased by those who seek to profit from it.

Please take a moment to read our story and understand why it’s so important to protect the truth — to ensure that people’s memories and legacies are not stolen, but honored.

Thank you for standing with me.

With love,
Linda Corby