In a deeply poignant and heartbreaking memoir released posthumously, Lisa Marie Presley bares the soul-wrenching experience of the day her father, Elvis Presley—the King of Rock ’n’ Roll—died. From Here to the Great Unknown offers an unfiltered window into August 16, 1977, a day that shattered Lisa Marie’s childhood and left a lifelong scar.

Lisa Marie was just nine years old when she faced the unimaginable loss. “I ran to him, but somebody grabbed me, pulled me back. They were trying to work on him,” she recalls with raw honesty. “I was screaming bloody murder. I knew it was not good.” The anguish and confusion of a child witnessing a beloved parent slipping away unfold with devastating clarity in her words.

The grief enveloping the Presley family was overwhelming. Lisa Marie vividly remembers hearing her paternal grandfather’s anguished wails—a sound she says she will “never get past.” She heard the heart-wrenching words, “Oh he’s gone. He’s gone,” echoing through the house, marking the end of an era and the irrevocable loss of the man who had become a cultural icon at just 42.

Elvis’s death from complications related to drug use left a profound void in Lisa Marie’s life, one that would haunt her for decades. The memoir doesn’t shy away from the complex emotions and fears she harbored growing up—“I was always worried about my dad dying,” she admits. Moments when Elvis seemed “out of it” or unconscious fueled her dread so deeply that she even wrote a poem with the haunting line, “I hope my daddy doesn’t die.”

More than forty years later, Lisa Marie herself passed away in January 2023 at the age of 54, following complications from a bowel obstruction related to previous bariatric surgery. Before her death, her daughter, actress Riley Keough, pledged to help complete the memoir, ensuring Lisa Marie’s true story and voice would be heard.

In an exclusive interview with People, Riley described her mother as “the best mother, a wild child, a fierce friend, an underrated artist,” and someone constantly navigating the twin forces of grief and joy. “Because my mother was Elvis Presley’s daughter, she was constantly talked about, argued over and dissected,” Riley explained. “What she wanted to do in her memoir… is to reveal the core of who she was.”

The memoir also reveals Lisa Marie’s private moments of sorrow. In an upcoming interview with Oprah Winfrey, Riley shared that her mother would often listen to Elvis’s music alone, sometimes intoxicated, breaking down in tears. “I would walk in her room and she would be sitting on the floor crying, listening to her dad’s music,” Riley recalled, capturing the depth of Lisa Marie’s enduring pain.

From Here to the Great Unknown stands as a raw and unvarnished tribute—not only to the legend that was Elvis Presley but to the woman behind the public spotlight, struggling with loss and identity. For fans and readers alike, it offers a rare, heartfelt glimpse into the Presley family’s intimate grief and resilience, and a powerful testament to Lisa Marie’s lifelong love for her father.

The memoir is now available, inviting readers to understand the profound human story behind one of music’s most famous legacies.