Kindle Edition Amazon Shadowfyre Publication Amazon Category:  Relationships Publisher: Shadowfyre Publications ISBN-10:  1482303884 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 66 Copyright: January 29, 2013 ISBN-13: 9781482303889 The true story of a girl that struggled to break free of child abuse. What are some of your childhood memories? Could they be things like a special birthday party, a family trip, a reward for an achievement? Sarah had her own set of childhood memories, a boy tied to a chair, a dark leather belt, forgotten birthdays, being hungry, vacant eyes, and lost innocence. These are the memories that put dark clouds on her days, and caused her to cry out in her dreams. These are the memories of a child living a life enveloped within child abuse. Excerpt She was barely able to make out the words on the other end of the phone. The woman’s voice gurgled, strained; finally she pieced it together, “I love you baby girl.” She kept repeating that phrase over and over in her head before she finally drifted off to sleep on the red-eye flight from San Diego to Albany, New York. Did you break my jewelry box Sarah?” She heard her father screaming, and yet her mind was not registering what was happening. She was only five and yet she knew that tone. That tone made you wish you were invisible, or to hide under your bed until his anger faded away. There wasn’t going to be any hiding opportunities this time for he already had grasped her arm and was twisting it and yelling at her, his face menacingly close, she could smell the alcohol on his breath, she knew she was going to be crying before this day was over. She glanced over at her mother frantically who was just sitting there watching with a blank stare on her face. You see the five year old had witnessed who dropped the jewelry box earlier in the day, her mother had. Surely she thought, mommy will tell him the truth, yet she didn’t dare speak the words, she just looked at her with tears in her eyes silently imploring. She was shaken abruptly again, and her father now demanded an answer, “Did you break my jewelry box?” She quickly responded “No, I didn’t touch it”! Her father glared at her and called her a liar, “Your mother said you did”, and he immediately slapped her so hard across the face she fell down. “Get the belt” he bellowed, she knew better than to ignore his request, and she scrambled to her feet and brought the thick leather belt to her father. Gazing over to her mother, her eyes once again silently implored, “Please help me, tell him the truth, please”. Once again she was met with a blank stare; she was going to have to take the fall for something she didn’t do. At that moment, she felt she was truly much all alone in the world. He beat her repeatedly that night with the belt as he often did in his drunken stupor, and though she cried and cried, there was no one there to help her, or make the pain go away. Not even the landlord that lived below them would try and help anymore. Unfortunately for Sarah in 1970 there were no stringent child, protective laws and people only did so much. Later that night her father left to go out to the bars again, a nightly ritual. Her mother was watching TV, and she sat down next to her and quietly asked, “Mommy why did you tell I broke the jewelry box?” Her mother looked down at her and said quietly “Because you did!” Waking up with a start, they were starting the descent into Albany, she wiped the tears from her eyes and gazed out the plane window and said softly to herself, “She lied to him because she couldn’t stand another beating herself”. As she took a deep breath, she tried to silence the words “I love you baby girl” from echoing in her head.

Touching
I truly can not remember a book that touched me as deeply as this book did. I would recommend this book to anyone who can handle the truth about how life can sometimes be. I would say read in. Dive it. Take the blinders off. Take an honest look at life. I think this book can help people. It certainly made me look at what I have always taken for granted. An Excellent book. I recommend it with my whole heart.

M.O. Watson

Brave
Since this is a true story, I'm blessed that the author was able to overcome her fears and publicize what happened to her. Unfortunately there are many people in this world that should never become parents and even in this generation, situations like this book are still happening.

Heart Wrenching
This was beyond the shadow of a doubt, the most moving book I've ever read. It was brutally honest and made you feel her pain. I was moved to tears more than once by the overwhelming sadness and helplessness she had to feel. The fact that someone could endure this kind of abuse and tell anyone about it, let alone the whole world is amazing to me. It was hard to read, and at the same time, hard to put down.