Book Review : Torey Hayden : Ghost Girl

Ghost Girl

Author: Torey Hayden  

Title:  Ghost Girl

Genre:   Biography, medical, legal and social services, Psychology, social and health issues, child abuse,

Synopsis: A stunning and poignant account of an extraordinary teacher's determination from the author of the #1 Sunday Times bestsellers The Tiger's Child and One Child. Jadie never spoke, never laughed, never cried. She spent every waking hour locked in her own private world of shadows. But nothing in Torey Hayden's experience had prepared her for the nightmare Jadie revealed to her when finally persuaded to break her self-imposed silence. It was a story too painful, too horrific for Hayden's professional colleagues to acknowledge. But Torey Hayden could not close her ears… or her heart. A little girl was trapped in a living hell of unspeakable memories. And it would take every ounce of courage, compassion, and love that one remarkable teacher possessed to rid the "Ghost Girl" of the malevolent spirits that haunted her. Hayden’s books are unapologetic tear-jerkers. The true story of a child in desperate peril- and teacher who saved her.

 Review:  this book is really good but upsetting at the same time and Jadie sounds like a very nice quiet girl and her teacher helps her and Jadie is a brave girl speaking up about her unspeakable memories and the teacher who helps her sounds like a really nice and she just wants to help this child and bring her out of her shell and help her with memories from her past and she still goes to school. She really strong child opening up to talk to her teacher.

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
 

Book Review: Martha Long: Ma, He Sold Me For A Few Cigarettes

Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes

Author:  Martha Long

Title:  Ma, He Sold Me For A Few Cigarettes

Genre: biography, child abuse, tragic life stories, sexual abuse and autobiography  

Synopsis:  I charge fer the door, an jackser grabs me by the hair an punches me in the face. An me nose shoots out blood like a fountain. Then he opens the door an slams me across the hall, flyin through the air until l hit the woman’s door opposite. I lay like a heap of rubbish on the ground, pumpin blood everywhere. I was choking on it. I wanted te get back up te try an stop him from killin everyone, but l was winded, an the pain in me back an chest wouldn’t let me breathe. I was desperately lookin out the hall, hopin someone would come, but it was dark. An the only noise was our screamin. Jesus! Jesus! Please don’t let him kill us. Make him stop. Born a bastard to a teenage mother in the slums of 1950s Dublin, Martha has to be a fighter from the very start. As her mother moves from man to man, and more children follow, they live hand to mouth in squalid, freezing tenements, clothed in rags and forced to bed for food. But just when it seems things can’t get any worse, her mother meets jackser. Despite her trials, Martha is a child with an irrepressible spirit and a wit beyond her years. She tells the story of her early life without an ounce of self-pity and manages to recreate a lost era in which the shadow of the catholic church loomed large and if you didn’t work you didn’t eat. Martha never stops believing she is worth more than the hand she had been dealt, and her remarkable voice will remain with you long after you’ve finished the last line.                                     Acknowledgements with thanks to my children Fabian and marieclarie. Both of you a joy. Both, every mother’s dream and l am the mother! Wonders will never cease. How lucky can l get? To my first firstborn Tina, always a special bond, and to her two little beautiies, Charlie and William, my adorable grandchildren. To Ailsa, my editor. Thank you for your extraordinary patience and most of all your warmth and your kindness. To bill, a very astute man. Thank you, bill, l feel privileged to have your faith in me. A special thank you to Mary Dunne for tirelessly poring over my handwritten script and managing to type it all. Not an easy task. Take a bow, Mary. last but not least, to Helen scully. Thanks, Helen, for all your encouragement. Without you this would not be in the public domain. Thanks, friend!. Martha has to steal so her and her mother can eat after jackser kicks them out and gives her siblings up to social workers and Martha nicks bars of butter from Woolworths and she gets seen and she sent to a young offenders.
  


Review:  l was sickened to read that jackser sold Martha for a few cigarettes and he always hit the children and then kicked Martha and her mother out and then give the children to social services to be adopted out and Martha ends up stealing to feed herself and her mother and she seen taking the sticks of butter and sent to a young offenders but she stole herself a pair of socks and sandals cause her shoes have got holes in them. Luckily she survived and she was brave enough to write this book to tell the world what she went though and now she got children and grandchildren and she’s sounded by the love of her children and grandchildren. I think that jackser was sick in the head for selling Martha for a few cigarettes and hitting her and then giving her siblings up to be adopted was wrong he could of give them to Martha’s mother but she did wrong by making Martha shoplifted so she was not as bad as him but it was still wrong and she should have known better. Hope Martha is reunion with her siblings one day.

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Book Review: Stuart Howarth: Please, Daddy, No A Boy Betrayed

Please, Daddy, No: A Boy Betrayed

Author: Stuart Howarth

Title: Please, Daddy, No: A Boy Betrayed

Genre: Biography, Child Abuse, Tragic Life Stories, Sexual Abuse, Families and Parents, Health & Family and Lifestyle, Social and Health Issues, Nonfiction, True Crime, Autobiography, Memoir,

I was given this book.

To my sister, Shirley Anne Howarth, 1^st February 1965 - 8^th February 1991 aged 26 years, I miss you, 'Shirl the whirl', and today I know that you escaped away to peace and freedom. I watch you dance in the summer meadows, running free, chasing butterflies. Today I smile for us all – love you!.

This book has 320 pages and 27 chapters in it.

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio. Even if you do not read books like this.

I normally read books of this genre but l also stepped outside my comfort zone with authors and genres l am so glad l did because l have read so many great books and come across some great authors.

I highly recommend this book.

Synopsis: he thought he was too naughty to be loved. Stuart just wanted his step-father to love him, but he was made to believe that he was too naughty to be loved. After years of abusing Stuart's young sisters, David Howarth was sent to prison. Nobody knew the truth about Stuart's abuse until one fateful day when his step-father tried it again and Stuart fought back in the only way he could. Stuart Howarth spent the first thirty years of his life in a mental and physical hell. At the age of thirty-two the rage, pain and confusion boiled over inside his head and he sought out the man who had tormented him. Arriving at his step-father's doorstep, he discovered David Howarth had not changed. Certain that he was about to be attacked in the same way he had been so many hundreds of times as a small boy, Stuart grabbed a hammer and battered David Howarth to death. Stuart made no attempted to deny what he had done, and for the first time in his life he told his shocked family some of what he had been put though as a child. Since they had all suffered at the hands of David Howarth, none of them blamed him, but still Stuart still had to face prosecution and the judge reluctantly sentenced him to two year's imprisonment. In prison, Stuart should have received the help he needed, but some of the staff at strangeways took sadistic pleasure in taunting him about his childhood abuse and subjecting him to humiliating strip-searches up to eight times a day. Stuart fought back, taking the home office and strangeways to court, where he won his case and was awarded damages. Stuart wrote in his book to my sister Shirley Anne Howarth 1^st February 1965 - 8^th February 1991 aged 26 years l miss you 'Shirl the whirl', and today l know that you escaped away to peace and freedom. I watch you dance in the summer meadows, running free and chasing butterflies. Today l smile for us all – love you. To my darling Tracey, you are my love, my life, my faith, my strength, my today, my tomorrow and my everlasting! To mum (thanks for keeping us together as a unit), Trevor, Christina, Clare, Rosina, Maria, Mark and Dominic, now is the time to begin our journey as a family. To Sebastiano (god bless you) and to Eric (rest in peace). To Matthew, Rebecca, Jamie and Lee, thank you for teaching me how to be a father and for the warmth that engages me every time you are around. Thank you for my grandchildren and for the unconditional love they bring. To Sue and Geoff Hadfield and the Hadfield family, you believed in me and showed much love where others would have turned their backs. I will always be grateful – thank you. To my legal team: Padhee Singh, Ash Halam, Peter Pratt, Dr Keith Rix, Dr Lucinda Cochayne and the very honourable Mr. Justice Elias. To Colm O'Gorman (one in Four) – you heard my cries and felt my pain, Neil Fox (counselor) – prison needed good men like you, the god squad at strangeways and the few officers who fought my cause (you know who you are), and hundreds of men l came across in the prison system who shared their stories of abuse, hurt and pain with me ( your anonymity remains as requested). To Anthony Kelly (I followed the dream, thanks for the review), to Colin and Colleen Heath, the Taylors, Dean Mylchreest, Martin Cashin, the Sweeney family, Jimmy Barlow ( do not fear uncle Jimmy is here), Vic Scantlebury, Del, big Roy, Brett, big Scott, Wints, Mark Brittain (big boys do cry). Scott Gledhill and Kerry Kayes ( thanks for the support in prison), Colin and Leanne and the bike club, Roy Bailey, Roy Radcliffe, Tommy, Bob(oh yes), Derek, big Steve, and all the altrincham crew, to Judy Chilcote and Andrew Crofts, thanks for helping make this happen, for helping expose the truth and reality of this often cruel world. To Richard and Helen McCann, thanks for your unconditional support, encouragement, advice and assistance, to Jim Browne ( fire in ice Liverpool), Steve Bevan (survivor Swindon), James Brett ( your story must be told and I love you, man), Mike Lew (victims no more) and Craig Charles (a brave and courageous man – exposed the truth), to the thirty brave men l met recently on retreat who I saw reduced to small boys in pain and with tortured souls. You too can recover! To Anthony Akka, my sponsor and trusted friend (direction and honesty) – you are an example to me, to Murad Mousa my pally, pal, pal and to Patrick Gallagher for you unreserved love. To Big Paul (up the Irish), the Prichard's. Dennis, Daz Millington, Dave m, Mark, Dean (scouse), Howard (fireman Sam), Keith and Julie Clarke (MVS), Andy Banks, Steve Mather and Woody and Mike, to all the staff at Altrincham priory and again at castle Craig (without you our souls would be lost forever), Wynn Parry, Johnathan, Richard, Bill, Ian, Eddy and the righteous path, to Ken and Kathryn, your love for each other is amazing and you are in my thoughts and prayers on a daily basis, god bless you!, to all the still suffering and survivors around the world. You are not alone, feel no shame or guilt and break free from the horrors of the past, expose your abuse and make the world listen. To the families of those who suffer, please forgive them and allow them to recover. Like a pebble dropped in to a pond, the ripples run far and wide, and without recovery the symptoms pass on through generations. Finally, to all those people that have been affected by my actions either directly or indirectly, I bow my head and offer unreserved apologies.

Review: this book was really easy to get in to and hard to put down once l started reading it. This book was upsetting and that nobody realized Stuart was being abused until the day he killed his abuser and ended up going to prison and serving time he should not have been there. He should have been in hospital and l was glad to read that the family was stinking together and l was sad to read that his sister Shirley passed away aged 26 l also have a sister called Shirley who passed away at birth in 1995. It was nice to read that Stuart was helping some of the men he met in prison and he thanks everybody that helped him in his book. It was horrible to read that some of the police officers who worked in the prison strip-searched Stuart eight times a day after what he went through and luckily he lived to share his story and I think he is very brave doing so and glad he got damages for the things that happened to him when he was in prison and he will always have the memories from his abuse but with his family love he can try to carry on with his life even though it changed forever after what David Howarth did to him and his siblings. He can be the great husband, dad and grandfather and forget his abuser. Stuart and his family sound so brave and Stuart sounds like a great person.

About The Author: Stuart lives in Manchester with his wife Tracey, he has two children, Matthew and Rebecca, whom he loves dearly, he runs his own business and is continually improving the quality of his life whilst assisting others in recovering from past traumas and addiction. He has had two Sunday times top 10 bestsellers.

About The book: I really like this book cover and the colours are not too bright or not too dull.

Star Rating: Five Out Of Five Stars.