>
Cry Silent Tears
The heartbreaking survival story
of a small mute boy who overcame unbearable suffering and found his voice again
JOE PETERS
with Andrew Crofts
This book is based on the author’s experiences. In order to protect privacy, some names, identifying characteristics, dialogue and details have been changed or reconstructed.
HarperElement
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF
HarperElement is a trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
First published by HarperElement 2008
© Joe Peters 2008
Joe Peters asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9780007274048
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2009 ISBN: 9780007283828 Version: 2018-08-14
Contents
Chapter Two: A Bitter Battleground
Chapter Seven: Mum’s New Boyfriend
Chapter Eight: Rescued From The Cellar
Chapter Eleven: The Movie Business
Chapter Twelve: Learning To Speak Again
Chapter Thirteen: A Bid For Freedom
Chapter Fourteen: Betrayal And Capture
Chapter Fifteen: In And Out Of Care
Chapter Sixteen: Thieving For Mum
To Michelle, my soulmate, and my five beautiful and special children, Darren, Liam, Kirsty-Lea, Shannon and Paige.
Thanks guys, for all your love and support. Love Dad.
I never doubted for a moment that my dad loved me more than anything or anyone else in the world, and I returned that adoration wholeheartedly from the first moment that I was able to. He was a tall, handsome man with sparkly eyes, who was popular wherever he went, and he made me feel like king of the world every second we were together. I was his first child, his pride and joy, and he put me on as high a pedestal as I put him. ‘My little Joe,’ he’d say fondly, sitting me on his knee and ruffling my curly brown hair.
In almost all of my early memories, I am clinging to his big long legs, viewing the world from between them, or sitting in his car or on a grass verge nearby watching him while he worked. He was employed as a mechanic for an Irish guy called Graeme who owned a garage in Norwich, and had been with him since he was an apprentice, straight out of school. Graeme’s whole family had taken to him as though he was one of their own children and he had repaid their faith in him a hundredfold. He had gradually been given more and more responsibility and trust until he was virtually running the place if Graeme wasn’t there and
