A child doesn't ask to be born; they are brought into the world by their parents. If they're lucky, that child is nurtured, fed, loved, and guided by their mother and father. They are given a home and shelter, an education, something to occupy them, and they are protected from the worst the world has to offer. This wasn't the case for Helen. Told even from an early age that she was a mistake, and forced to feel that she should apologise simply for existing, Helen was born to a mother who did not seem to want her. Her early life was a series of abuses, mental and physical, and a daily struggle to become something better than the model presented to her at home. What do you do when the one person who is supposed to be your loving guardian is instead your greatest persecutor? What can a child do? For Helen, there was only one option: endure. She survived years of her mother's abuse, and her father's neglect, and tried as well as she could to look after herself and her younger brother, Matthew. This is an affecting memoir about Helen's tumultuous childhood, a story about the rotten core that can lie behind an unsuspicious facade. For every picture-perfect family there may be a child next-door, barely surviving.

Live radio interview. Monday 19 April. 13:25 UK time. Author will be interviewed live for 10-15 minutes by Selina MacKenzie on Talk Radio Europe show "The Daily".

About the Author
Born in the 1960s, Helen Coneyworth - Smith still lives in the East Riding of Yorkshire area. She has a responsible and long-standing career in I.T. Consultancy, having acquired numerous specialist I.T. qualifications along with Project Management certificates and experience. She likes to continually strive for training and development in other areas, especially out of her comfort zone, and over the years has trained as a qualified Gym Instructor, Reflexologist and Massage Therapist. Helen has an avid interest in writing books and short stories. Writing this first book of memoirs has been an emotional and traumatic journey, having to recall childhood memories that have been 'locked away' in her mind. However it was something she needed to do to bring awareness of what can go on behind closed doors, with the hope that someone somewhere will recognise this and save a child from the mental and physical cruelty she had to endure.


Book Information
ISBN 9781789631951
Author Helen Coneyworth-Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 206
Imprint The Choir Press
Publisher The Choir Press
Weight(grams) 245g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 11mm