Book picks similar to
No One Listened by Isobel Kerr


non-fiction
child-abuse
tbr
nonfiction

What Daddy Did: The Shocking True Story of a Little Girl Betrayed


Donna Ford - 2008
    Between the ages of five and 11, Donna was physically, mentally, and sexually abused. She was starved, beaten, and "loaned out" to neighbors who raped and molested her. When her stepmother finally left the family home, Donna dreamed of a normal childhood in which she would be taken care of by her father who had, up until this point, failed her. But it was not to be. In telling the whole story of her childhood, Donna tries to understand why the man who should have loved her was the one who deceived her the most by continuing to allow men to abuse her. Instead of finding a future of love and happiness, Donna was once again thrust into a living nightmare of exploitation and betrayal by those who should have wrapped her up in their love. Donna also tells of her efforts to find her own mother—who abandoned her when she was young— and of the terrors she has gone through as an adult. While this is a story of the appalling physical, mental, and emotional abuse, it is also a tale of how exhilaration, tenderness, and self-development can flourish despite childhood horrors.

Trafficked


Sophie Hayes - 2012
    At first, it was a typical whirlwind romance. But one day Bledi told her that love always comes at a price ...Bledi tricked Sophie into travelling to Italy, where he forced her to sell her body to help him pay off a debt. Terrified and ashamed, Sophie worked the dangerous Italian streets without rest, seeing as many as 30 clients in a night. She was completely at Bledi′s mercy for food, clothes and shelter. And without money, friends or family, she was trapped.But Sophie found the strength to keep going, clinging to life by a single thread of hope: that somehow she′d find a way to escape.

Never Call Me Mummy Again


Peter Kilby - 2013
    In rural Gloucestershire in the early 1940s, Peter's family lived in poverty. It wasn't long before his father introduced a new woman into their lives, his mistress Flossie. On meeting her, Peter made a mistake; he called her 'Mummy'. Dragged outside, trampled on and shouted at, Peter never made that mistake again. Thus began a childhood of terrible abuse from which Peter tried time and again to run away. The arrival of a new sister, who was treated like a princess, only served to intensify the harm directed towards Peter. After running away one time too many, Flossie pulled Peter into the bedroom that he shared with his brothers and sister and committed an act of unforgivable evil. It didn't end there though - the catalogue of cruelties continued until, finally, Peter was able to escape for good.In this, his heart-breaking yet profoundly moving and ultimately uplifting memoir, Peter recounts a childhood like no other and a stepmother from hell.

Child C: Surviving a Foster Mother's Reign of Terror


Christopher Spry - 2008
    Her home had become a prison where over the course of 20 years she routinely abused and tortured her charges. Behind closed doors she was a sadistic tyrant who beat her children with metal bars, forced wooden sticks down their throats, and made them eat lard, bleach, vomit, and feces. In this harrowing account, one of the victims of Spry’s wrath—known during the trial as Child C—tells the full, shocking story of his enforced isolation and the psychological and physical abuse he endured. Despite years of suffering and abandonment, with his mother now behind bars, today Christopher Spry is a survivor with a zest for life.

Unforgivable


Collette Elliott - 2014
    She slipped through the net and only just survived. Her childhood was a place of filth and terror. Her prostitute mother abused and neglected Collette; leaving her with clients, starving her and beating her to a pulp.But the worst thing was that the people who were supposed to protect Collette turned a blind eye. This is the story of a little girl who waited years for justice. It's the story of a woman determined to protect other children from suffering her fate.Collette Elliott is a 35-year-old mother of four. She was born in Birmingham to Maureen Batchelor, a prostitute, and suffered years of physical and mental abuse. In April 2013, Birmingham City Council awarded her £20,000 in damages for the anguish she suffered and their failure to protect her. Collette is now happily married, a devoted mother to her girls, and is campaigning on behalf of other child abuse victims.

Destroyed


Jayne Sterne - 2008
    She was wrong. Her relative came too. And, as her parents had to work nights, Jayne's abuser became her 'carer'.Raped repeatedly by him, beaten, abused and battered, Jayne's life was a living hell.One thing kept Jayne sane: the love and care of her older brother, Stuart. But he had demons of his own, and Jayne watched in helpless despair as the boy who had always protected her turned into an adult consumed by rage. Out of control and on the edge, Stuart went on to commit one of the most terrible crimes of recent years....DESTROYED is the heart-stopping tale of an innocence destroyed and a family torn apart - told by a woman who has finally managed to confront her harrowing past.

The Little Prisoner


Jane Elliott - 2005
    She became the helpless victim of a sociopath—bullied, dominated, and sexually abused by a man only fourteen years her senior: her stepfather. For nearly two decades she was held prisoner, both physically and emotionally. But at the age of twenty-one she escaped . . . and then she fought back.The Little Prisoner is the shocking, astonishing, and ultimately uplifting true story of one woman's shattering twenty-year ordeal—and how she triumphed against an evil and violent human monster when honesty and bravery were her only weapons.

Ugly Child: My Own Terrifying True Story of Child Abuse and the Desperate Fight for Survival (Skylark Child Abuse True Stories Book 3)


Kate Skylark - 2015
     Life was never easy for little Siobhan. Born with cerebral palsy, she already has extra difficulties to contend with. But her disability isn’t her only problem. For Siobhan, life is a nightmare of constant verbal and physical attacks. The verbal and physical abuse soon turns more serious, even violent. And Siobhan plunges deeper into a relentless hell of daily attacks. As the abuse escalates, Siobhan begins to fear for her life. The urge for survival takes over and Siobhan must take drastic and extreme action to escape the torment. But her safety is short lived and the abuse returns once again to her life. And this time, it is worse than ever. The story builds to a powerful crescendo, and one final, shocking act of sexual violence changes the lives of all concerned for ever. Kate Skylark has previously co-authored two child abuse memoirs. But now, it’s time for Kate to tell her own story. Ugly Child, is the touching and shocking account of the author’s own childhood bullying and sexual abuse hell. Kate Skylark’s real name is Siobhan. This is her horrendous story… The author believes no child should ever have to undergo such torment. So for every book sold, a donation will be made to the NSPCC.

KERI: the SHOCKING true story of a child abused


Kat Ward - 2011
    Two loving parents, a backdrop of 1960’s Britain; life had provided for her, at least with the riches of modesty.Keri herself however, would often confound teachers with her erratic behaviour, which was at best sullen and withdrawn; at worst violently disruptive. When challenged, she would only exacerbate her growing reputation as a fantasist; weaving terrible tales about the “abuse” she was suffering at the hands of her very creators.But it was the much-celebrated age of innocence; the childhood of our modern culture. Big brother had not yet been born and Nanny was only looking out for her dearest, as opposed to the entire State. Who would take the word of child on such matters? After all, she was just a bad egg… wasn’t she?Well, no. She wasn’t. She was indeed, for over a decade, the victim of an abuse so staggering that merely to read about it is enough to freeze even the thickest of blood. “Keri” is the story of what happens when truth is imprisoned in a little glass jar and buried deep within the Earth, condemned to a sentence of eternal silence. For truth may be repressed, but never supressed. It will always find light eventually. And, in this gut-wrenching account of her early life, author Kat Ward takes the reader through every shade of darkness, whilst never allowing the candle of hope to fully extinguish, so as that truth may indeed find its rightful freedom.

Spilled Milk


K.L. Randis - 2013
    When social services jeopardize her safety condemning her to keep her father’s secret, it’s a glass of spilled milk at the dinner table that forces her to speak about the cruelty she’s been hiding. In her pursuit for safety and justice Brooke battles a broken system that pushes to keep her father in the home. When jury members and a love interest congregate to inspire her to fight, she risks losing the support of family and comes to the realization that some people simply do not want to be saved. Spilled Milk is a novel of shocking narrative, triumph and resiliency.

I Own You: She Was an Abused Girl and a Battered Wife - Until the Day She Fought Back


Dawn McConnell - 2017
    Then, aged fourteen, she was groomed by the father of a schoolfriend, a local businessman who seemed to love her. She ran away from home to be with him. Pregnant at sixteen, and rejected by her parents, she ended up marrying him. For years, Dawn suffered psychological abuse from her husband, who belittled and threatened her. She was also forced to work all hours in the bars he owned and realized she was good at business - better than him. As her confidence grew, she found the strength to tell the police about her brother. Gradually, Dawn realized she was more than an abused wife - she was a survivor. When she fell in love with a genuinely good man, she hatched a dangerous plan to free herself from her husband and take the thing he cared about most - his money.

Brutal: The Heartbreaking True Story of a Little Girl Stolen


Nabila Sharma - 2012
    I should have been able to trust him. But he made me do unspeakable things!It is a tale of innocence lost and a life shattered, but above all it is a tale of survival, of a young girl who found love and hope in the darkest of places.

I Love You Baby Girl: A Heartbreaking True Story of Child Abuse


Desire Night - 2013
    As you read about what Sarah went through in her childhood years, you will realize that Sarah is anything but "average". Sarah's childhood memories are riddled with such visions as a young boy tied to a chair, watching her father beat her mother, the list goes on and on from physical abuse to sexual abuse, there are no limits to how far the predators in Sarah's life will go. Experience the pain of child abuse and child sexual abuse through Sarah's eyes, watch as she demonstrates the strength to fight, cry with her as she feels defeated and wants to give up and rejoice, for in the end she was able to triumph.

Broken: A traumatised girl. Her troubled brother. Their shocking secret.


Rosie Lewis - 2017
    Rosie remembers that when asked what he enjoyed most about the course, Archie said: ‘the biscuits’.Social workers are concerned that Archie and Bobbi have been neglected. As Rosie gets to know the children, she begins to suspect that something far more disturbing lies in their past.Archie, jovial and polite, bats away Rosie’s attempts to talk to him about anything serious with witty one-liners and sophisticated distractions. Bobbi reacts violently, lashing out and throwing herself around. Rosie has never seen a child as young a Bobbi behaving so viciously, but it is Archie she is most concerned about as the weeks go by.After a worrying incident at school, Archie tearfully discloses the truth – a shocking secret that has left him and his sister traumatised. Horrified at what she learns, Rosie is determined to help the young siblings find a forever-home that will provide them with the love and care they deserve.

Running from the Devil: How I Survived a Stolen Childhood


Sara Davies - 2006
    When Sara was only five years old, her violent father began to sexually abuse her. She suffered in silence for many years, as her father took advantage of her innocence and her mother turned a blind eye to the horrors that were taking place in her own home. It was only when Sara found the courage to tell her mother what had happened that the truth about the trauma and abuse she had suffered came out. In an attempt to rebuild her life, as a teenager, Sara became a model but even this choice was to lead to more misery when she discovered that the agency had been drugging and abusing her. Despite the horrors that Sara has endured, she has survived and, partly by telling her story, has overcome the past to re-build her life.