Book picks similar to
Damaged: Heartbreaking stories of the kids trapped in Britain's broken care system by Chris Wild
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Olive Oatman: Explore The Mysterious Story of Captivity and Tragedy from Beginning to End
Brent Schulte - 2019
She is the girl with the blue tattoo.The story behind the distinctive tattoo is the stuff of legends. Some believed it was placed on her face during her captivity, following the brutal murders of her family members and the kidnapping of her and her sister. Others believe it was placed on her after her return.Rumors swelled. Her tattoo became a symbol of Native barbarianism and the triumph of American goodness, but like many stories of that era, the truth is far more complicated.This short book details the murders, her captivity, the aftermath, and her baffling return to her captors. Unravel the mystery of the woman who would become famous for all the wrong reasons and discover what her life story says about cultural identity, the power of resiliency, and what happens when fact and fiction bend and twist to muddy the waters.Read on to find out the truth!
One Chance: Tales from the African bush
Brian Connell - 2016
The familiar group of characters appear again, as do a few more waifs and strays. The plight of the rhino takes centre-stage in One Chance, bringing awareness to the risk they face on a daily basis.
Lost on Skinwalker Ranch
Erick Rhetts - 2014
–Tom Clancy I met Riley in a small tavern in Peru. As we were both ex-pats and enjoyed the same libations, we got to talking. One thing led to another and he told me he had a story he thought would make a good book. By this time, he knew that I had written and published a number of books, most as a ghost-writer. Before our conversation started, he asked me if I believed in the paranormal--ghosts and spirits, that kind of thing. I told him I kept an open mind. That's when he told me about Skinwalker Ranch, a ranch property in Utah believed to be the location of a portal between worlds or into some alternate dimension, depending on your take on these things. He explained that the property was purchased by one of the wealthiest men in America, Robert Bigelow, who bought it from a family which had experienced some fantastic encounters with alien entities, unidentifiable anomalies and disembodied voices. Following the purchase, Mr. Bigelow hired a team of scientists and security experts to both investigate the alleged paranormal activity and keep the property free of trespassers and thrill seekers. Riley was one of those security experts. His story tells of his own personal experiences and encounters, not only while working on the ranch itself, but how the entities he attracted interrupted his life some 500 miles away. The climax of his tale--and he tells it in a way that is so real and genuine that it is hard to deny--is actually passing through the portal and to the other side--the only property guard to report such an encounter. Here for the first time anywhere and in any form is Riley's story. If you have read the other fantastic books written about Skinwalker Ranch, or are interested in the paranormal and the concept of portals, this book is a must read for you. Read and learn what's really out there!
Shadow of My Father
John Gotti - 2015
But now in "Shadow of My Father," the real story of the King of the Volcano is revealed for the first time. John A. Gotti, who survived four trials and a parole violation hearing, in four years, without a guilty verdict, now takes up his pen to tell the story of his father’s unwavering dedication to the street, and how, as his son, he entered that life, and then, with his father’s permission, left the life of crime, and put the “Family” behind him to live a legitimate life with his real family. It is a saga of betrayal and redemption, and an insider’s view of how, at times, those who are tasked with upholding the law readily broke it to further their careers.
Please Don't Make Me Go
John Fenton - 2008
When, aged 13, his father brought a charge against him in order to remove him from the family home, John found himself in Juvenile Court – from here he was sent to the notorious St. Vincent’s school, run by a group of Catholic Irish Brothers.Beatings and abuse were a part of daily life – both from John’s fellow pupils, but also from the brothers, all of which was overseen by the sadistic headmaster, Brother De Montfort. Tormented physically and sexually by one boy in particular, and by the Brothers in general, John quickly learnt to survive but at the cost of the loss of his childhood.Please don’t make me go, tells in heart-rending detail the day-to-day lives of John and the other boys – the beatings, the weapons fashioned from toilet chains and stones, the loneliness – but we also see the development of John’s love of reading, his growing friendship with Father Delaney and his best friend, Bernard, and his unstinting love for his mother whom he feared was suffering at the hands of his violent father.A painfully, brutally honest account, Please don’t make me go is also an example of the resilience of the human spirit as it documents how John learnt to survive and come through his ordeal.
All of These People: A Memoir
Fergal Keane - 2006
As one of the BBC's leading correspondents, he recounts extraordinary encounters on the front lines. Alongside his often brutal experiences in the field, he also describes unflinchingly the challenges and demons he has faced in his personal life growing up in Ireland.Keane’s existence as a war reporter is all that we imagine: frantic filing of reports and dodging shells, interspersed with rest in bombed-out hotels and concrete shelters. Life in such vulnerable areas of the globe is emotionally draining, but full of astonishing moments of camaraderie and human bravery. And so this is also a memoir of the human connections, at once simple and complex, that are made in extreme circumstances. These pages are filled with the memories of remarkable people. At the heart of Fergal Keane's story is a descent into and recovery from alcoholism, spanning two generations, father and son; a different kind of war, but as much part of the journey of the last twenty-five years as the bullets and bombs.
The Griekwastad Murders: The Crime that Shook South Africa
Jacques Steenkamp - 2014
It was shortly before 19h00 when Don Steenkamp jumped out of the vehicle and ran into the station’s charge office, covered in blood, to announce that his parents and sister had been brutally shot and killed on the family farm, Naauwhoek. Although the killings were initially thought to be just another farm attack, months later a sixteen-year-old youth was arrested for the murders, setting in motion a chain of events that would grip South Africa, and divide the people of Griekwastad.Based on interviews with all the role-players, including the investigating officers on the case, the forensic and ballistic experts, and family and friends of the deceased, this is the riveting account of what really happened on Naauwhoek farm on that fateful day, as told by the reporter who followed the case from day one…
Salt of the Earth
Jack Olsen - 1996
It was left to Brenda's mother Elaine to sustain her stricken family, search for her missing child, and pressure the authorities for justice. From the first minutes of the investigation, suspicion fell on Michael Kay Green, a steroid-abusing "Mr. Universe" hopeful, but there was no proof of a crime, leaving police and prosecutors stymied.Tips and sightings poured in as lawmen and volunteers combed the Cascades forest in the biggest search on Northwest history. Years passed with no sight of the blue-eyed girl or the bright clothes she'd worn on the day she disappeared, but Elaine remained undaunted.Salt of the Earth is the true story of how one woman fought and triumphed over life-shattering violence and how she healed her family-and herself.
Who Are You?
Megan Henley - 2016
And he found his perfect victim. A true story of the ultimate deception.25-year-old Megan Henley put her five-year-old daughter to bed one evening and switched on her laptop. A Facebook ‘friend request’ seemed to be genuine. There were a few common friends and very similar interests, so Megan accepted.With that one simple act, she changed her life forever. In her words: ‘looking back on it, it was as if I had opened my front door to a stranger, as if I had thrown away every precaution I’d ever put in place, as if I had freely given access to my whole world – all because of some naïve belief that it was ‘just’ a friend request on a social media site.’ Megan is tricked into a relationship, paranoia and ultimately betrayal by the man she loved and trusted but nothing is as it seems.
Catch Your Breath: The Secret Life of a Sleepless Anaesthetist
Ed Patrick - 2021
“They’re just fantastic! Then I remembered, Ed you’re an anesthesiologist…f*cking hell! I can’t believe that…”. I like to think I’m an inspiration to all budding doctors that anything is achievable.Ed is a sleepless anesthesiologist. His shifts involve snatching five-minute lunch breaks in the staff bathrooms, navigating emergencies and living with the all too terrifying sense of responsibility. And that was before Coronavirus arrived, which quickly turned his job into a nightmare queue of struggling with ill-fitting PPE, balancing staff shortages and intubating Covid-19 patients who can’t breathe on their own.Hilariously funny and moving, Catch Your Breath follows Ed’s journey from bewildered medical student in Aberdeen to unflinching anesthesiologist on the NHS frontline. It offers a unique insight into life on the hospital wards during the pandemic, while also sharing the hope that we will all get through this.
The Fireman's Wife
Susan Farren - 2006
Having herself spent several years as a paramedic, she knew too well the dangers of the emergency profession. But as fate would have it, she met Dan -- and everything changed. Suddenly she was married to a man who had wanted to be a fireman ever since he was a child, and she found herself faced with the sacrifices and struggles that accompany this challenging career. Being a fireman's wife meant relocating her family, living without her husband for days at a time, and wondering every time she heard a siren if he would make it home safely. Ultimately, it also meant receiving the phone call every fireman's wife fears may come: the news that her husband had been in an accident.Susan speaks on behalf of thousands of firemen's wives nationwide -- the women who hold down the fort while their husbands are on the job. Their sacrifice is our gain, and for the first time, this book tells their story.
I, Mick Gatto
Mick Gatto - 2010
Mick Gatto.Gambler.Underworld veteran.Melbourne gangland survivor.Mick Gatto in his bestselling autobiography finally reveals the man behind the headlines.Gatto's unique position-of knowing all the players in the Gangland Wars but not being involved in drug trafficking-gave him a remarkable perspective to watch the battles unfold.I, Mick Gatto is an extraordinary insight into a colourful and mysterious world that few even know exists.Part of the proceeds of each book sold will be donated to the Royal Children's Hospital.
Boy Number 26
Tommy Rhattigan - 2019
But instead, separated from his siblings, young Tommy was thrown to the wolves.Tommy Rhattigan takes us, in his own inimitable way, back to his own childhood of pranks, cruelty and laughter grown from a need to survive his daily torment and to stick two fingers up to the system that was failing him so spectacularly.
I Accuse-: The Anti-Sikh Violence of 1984
Jarnail Singh - 2009
It was outrage at this state of affairs that led Jarnail Singh, an unassuming, law- abiding journalist, to throw his shoe at home minister P Chidambaram during a press conference in New Delhi. He readily acknowledges that this was not an appropriate means of protest, but asks why, twenty-five years after the massacres, so little has been done to address the issues that are still unresolved and unanswered and a source of anguish to the whole community.? ? Who initiated the pogrom and why? ? Why did the state apparatus allow it to happen? ? Why, despite the many commissions and committees set up to investigate the events, have the perpetrators not been brought to book? ? I Accuse is a powerful and passionate indictment of the state's response to the killings of 1984. It explores the chain of events, the survivors' stories and the continuing shadow it casts over their lives. Because, finally, 1984 was not an attack on the Sikh community alone; it was an attack on the idea at the very core of democracy?that every citizen, irrespective of faith and community, has a right to life, liberty and security.