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Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.
HarperElement
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First published by HarperElement 2017
FIRST EDITION
© Taylor Edison and Jane Smith 2017
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2017
Cover photograph © Mark Owen/Trevillion Images (posed by model)
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Taylor Edison and Jane Smith assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780008148027
Ebook Edition © February 2017 ISBN: 9780008157388
Version: 2016-12-20
Contents
I used to feel angry with my mum because she didn’t intervene in what was going on when I was a child. But I realise that she’s got problems of her own and I just feel sorry for her now. What made me look at things differently was becoming a mum myself: I try really hard to do what’s best for my child – it’s just a natural instinct; so I think my mum must have been trying hard too.
I would have liked to have told my story without mentioning Mum at all, and especially without saying anything negative about her. But because most of it deals with abuse that occurred during my childhood, that would have made it seem as though she wasn’t there while I was growing up. And that isn’t true. So I’m just going to tell it the way it happened.
There are lots of reasons why people fall victim to abusers. In my case, it was
