Left as a newborn in a box outside Stoke City Football ground, her grandparents took her into their home. But instead of finding a sanctuary, Nicky was subjected to horrific sexual abuse throughout her childhood. In 1951, when Nicky was six years old, her glamorous-looking estranged mother arrived on the doorstep to 'rescue' her. But Nicky's hopes of a safe and loving family were very soon smashed, and her world became darker still.

The man who should have been there to help protect me, love me, and teach me about life did the opposite. I was told to keep quiet and not tell anyone our secret. A secret that filled me with fear and shame. I was sexually abused from ages five to twelve.

"This novel is not for the faint of heart, but it rewards the brave with a riveting tale that grips deeply." DJ Moore A dark, psychological thriller that is sure to keep you up well past your bedtime After enduring a lifetime of abuse at the hands of the man that vowed to cherish her, Genny Carter knows only the role of the victim. More focused on avoiding punishment than the wellbeing of her three daughters, she ignored the terror inflicted on them by their father during their childhood. She kept his secrets. Now, in her sixties, Genny has had enough. She needs her daughters to help her ...

Her body is thawing, and the smell of death is oozing from her. I want to be sick, but I say nothing. I watch like I was told. Good girls, listen. I want to rub my legs clean; I want a shower. Startled when my mom announced she was done. I finally see. Even though I was watching, I did not truly see. I say nothing. I sit and watch. Wishing for heaven too. Survival is all I can think of, I must do as they say, or I will be next. I am trying to be strong but failing many times. Will I leave the summer alive? will I get to start 8th Grade? I was finally able to tell on my parents. Now I am ...

Frances Reilly and her sisters were abandoned by their mother outside Nazareth House Convent - a Belfast orphanage run by nuns. Little did they know the unimaginable cruelty they'd endure within its walls.

Named after the lager that christened her at birth, Stella's life is characterised instability and neglect. Her teenage mother abandons her in the first few weeks of her life, and left in the 'care' of her father, she ends up lying deserted in a house with no food, no water, no clothes and no warmth. She eventually lands in the care of foster carer Louise, who is determined to change her life for the better.

More than 2,000,000 children worldwide are bought and sold each year to be used as slaves. This could be just one of their stories.... When his parents agree to send Tavi off to a special school in the city that promises wealth and success, they have no idea that they are handing their son over to real life human traffickers. Tavi's excitement soon turns into horror as he learns what kind of a life he has been forced into and the things that are expected of him. As his world comes crashing down around him, he struggles to stay true to himself in the midst of the darkness. But when one of ...

In the best-selling tradition of Smashed and The Glass Castle, this raw, eye-opening memoir tells the powerful story of Elizabeth Garrison's fractured childhood, descent into teenage drug addiction, and struggle to overcome nearly insurmountable odds. Elizabeth invites the listener behind the closed doors of a picture-perfect Christian family to reveal a dark, hidden world of child abuse, domestic violence, and chilling family secrets all performed in the name of God under the tyrannical rule of her father.

Lacey Spears made international headlines in January 2015, when she was charged with the "depraved mind" murder of her five-year-old son, Garnett. Prosecutors alleged that the 27-year-old mother had poisoned him with high concentrations of salt through his stomach tube. To the outside world, Lacey had seemed like the perfect mother, regularly posting dramatic updates on her son's harrowing medical problems. But in reality, Lacey was a textbook case of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.

Emily Edwards is locked in the basement. Her husband put her there. When she accused him of molesting their seven-year-old daughter, he finally snapped. But Emily isn’t alone in the basement. Her new home is infested with spirits of the dead. And some of them would die again to save her.

I was born to an abusive doctor named Ahaz in Kentucky, homeschooled and not even allowed to have friends. When I was nine, Ahaz discovered The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Holdeman) in Tennessee, and he forced us to move there. The Holdeman's were religious exempt from education beyond the eighth grade, and I was beat for begging to go to a high school. As a minor, I had to kiss approximately 200 different people on the lips, some of whom were complete strangers, for the sake of something called The Holy Kiss; only it didn't feel holy. Ahaz determined to break my independent, ...

Sexual trauma can dim or even extinguish the spark of our personalities—but deep within us, our souls remain as bright and beautiful as the day God gave them to us. Little Sweetheart, the true account of a twelve-year-old girl trapped in a sexual relationship with an older dance teacher, is much more than a memoir. With vulnerability and honesty, Amber Gregory integrates both spiritual inspiration and careful research with her autobiographical story. As she shares her healing journey—a journey she took with her Divine Soul Mate at her side—she empowers us to learn along with her. She ...

A story of survival… Twelve-year-old Alan Smith had everything going for him; he was athletic, popular, and excelled scholastically. The only problem was that his parents were criminals. The lies he was forced to tell to protect his parents isolated him; his entire life was based on deception. On April 23, 1967, the lies ended. That night, the police kicked in the door to his home and took his parents away. With that, every relationship in his life fell apart. His extended family abandoned him out of shame, and friendships based on dishonesty crumbled and collapsed. Alan soon found ...

When 16-year-old Angel meets Call at the mall, he buys her meals and says he loves her, and he gives her some candy that makes her feel like she can fly. Pretty soon she's addicted to his candy, and she moves in with him. As a favor, he asks her to hook up with a couple of friends of his, and then a couple more. Now Angel is stuck working the streets at Hastings and Main, a notorious spot in Vancouver, Canada, where the girls turn tricks until they disappear without a trace, and the authorities don't care.

When you’re a scapegoat in a cruel and abusive household, the scapegoating doesn’t end when you turn 18. Author Dani Donnelly is just now finding this out at age 50 (Yes, FIFTY), and she’s about to tell the world through her memoirs how pervasively damaging an abusive home can be. Her own mother, a.k.a. her lifelong narcissistic abuser, has other plans: She is taking wild and unthinkable steps to put a halt to the completion of Dani’s book. This novel is a chilling tale of survival.