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KERI: the SHOCKING true story of a child abused
From the outside, there was no reason to suspect the family life of young schoolchild Keri was anything but unremarkable. Two loving parents, a backdrop of 1960’s Britain; life had provided for her, at least with the riches of modesty.
Keri herself however, would often confound teachers with her erratic behaviour, which was at best sullen and withdrawn; at worst violently disruptive. When challenged, she would only exacerbate her growing reputation as a fantasist; weaving terrible tales about the “abuse” she was suffering at the hands of her very creators.
But it was the much-celebrated age of innocence; the childhood of our modern culture. Big brother had not yet been born and Nanny was only looking out for her dearest, as opposed to the entire State. Who would take the word of child on such matters? After all, she was just a bad egg… wasn’t she?
Well, no. She wasn’t. She was indeed, for over a decade, the victim of an abuse so staggering that merely to read about it is enough to freeze even the thickest of blood. “Keri” is the story of what happens when truth is imprisoned in a little glass jar and buried deep within the Earth, condemned to a sentence of eternal silence. For truth may be repressed, but never supressed. It will always find light eventually. And, in this gut-wrenching account of her early life, author Kat Ward takes the reader through every shade of darkness, whilst never allowing the candle of hope to fully extinguish, so as that truth may indeed find its rightful freedom.
Keri herself however, would often confound teachers with her erratic behaviour, which was at best sullen and withdrawn; at worst violently disruptive. When challenged, she would only exacerbate her growing reputation as a fantasist; weaving terrible tales about the “abuse” she was suffering at the hands of her very creators.
But it was the much-celebrated age of innocence; the childhood of our modern culture. Big brother had not yet been born and Nanny was only looking out for her dearest, as opposed to the entire State. Who would take the word of child on such matters? After all, she was just a bad egg… wasn’t she?
Well, no. She wasn’t. She was indeed, for over a decade, the victim of an abuse so staggering that merely to read about it is enough to freeze even the thickest of blood. “Keri” is the story of what happens when truth is imprisoned in a little glass jar and buried deep within the Earth, condemned to a sentence of eternal silence. For truth may be repressed, but never supressed. It will always find light eventually. And, in this gut-wrenching account of her early life, author Kat Ward takes the reader through every shade of darkness, whilst never allowing the candle of hope to fully extinguish, so as that truth may indeed find its rightful freedom.
1089 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 6, 2011
807 people are currently reading
703 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
April 13, 2016
Believe the title. You WILL be in for some shocking stuff. You've got to admire anyone who's willing to go over it, even relive it, just to get the message out to us.
July 6, 2012
Although I shouldn't write a review from a kindle sample only, since it took me 2 nights to read the sample and the sample is more than 100 pages I believe in this instance I can. For all the shock and horrors described in the book, I found it hard to build an emotional connection to the character so I did not proceed with buying and reading the rest of the book.
July 10, 2012
A very long story, read more like a novel than a true story. Its very difficult to believe that so much abuse could have happened to one child. The story and resilience of the child Keri, there were a few times when I believe the characters were mixed up and the proof reader did a poor job, but a gripping read nun the less
August 31, 2012
I finished this book 2 months ago and I still think about it so often. It was an excellent read. Hard at times (Nana?!? Not you too?!?) I look forward to the sequel. Hopefully hear of a happy ending. It was difficult to stomach the abuse that was endured by Jeri for so many years. It quickly became a page turner I couldn't put down!
November 4, 2014
This is the first part of Kat Ward’s harrowing true story. For those of you who aren’t aware Kat Ward is the courageous woman who initiated the disclosure of the Jimmy Savile child sex abuse scandal after appearing on a TV documentary with others about the incidents.
Beginning with her earliest upsetting memories at the age of three, Keri is severely abused both physically and psychologically by a mother who never wanted her and who told her she was wicked. From the outset, we are there with the vulnerable little child as she is subjected to a catalogue of horrific abuse, simply for being sick, wetting herself or having a fear of water. Keri’s situation worsens when her mother moves in with ‘that man’ Terry (later to become her stepfather) who is soon inflicting punishment on her and treating her in the same brutal and abusive way as her mother. Physical abuse soon turns to sexual abuse when Keri is not yet five years old.
However, there are positive people in Keri’s life, especially her Nana, who teaches her to read and allows her free rein to be creative. Nana is kind and loving and Keri is heartbroken whenever she has to return home to her mother’s and stepfather’s. In a way, Keri would have had a very different childhood if she’d been allowed to live with her Nana. She also gets comfort through the family pets: the dog, the cats and Lambie – the lamb knitted for her by her Nana, always never far away to give her comfort during the most gruesome of times.
At primary school things are not much better for Keri, where she is bullied for being different – she has bad eczema – and when she does make a friend her mother soon puts a stop to it. In fact, like all bullies and manipulators, her mother needs to keep Keri as unpopular and friendless as possible to maintain her power over her. Once again, when Keri has a new baby brother, the difference in the way he is treated, compared to the way she is treated, is stark. Not only this, but Keri is scapegoated by her mother and stepfather so that her brother grows up thinking that Keri is treated differently and punished because she is ‘bad’ rather than because their parents are abusive. This is another way in which the appalling abuse is maintained because Keri is portrayed as ‘the liar’ and ‘the aggressive baddie’ rather than her mother. Time and again, it is her mother who is believed and not Keri. It is the same when Keri confides to a teacher and is referred to Child Guidance. By this time, Keri has already been branded a ‘bad child’ and ‘a problem child’ - her own wayward temperament seen as the cause of the problem and her ‘poor parents’ as the ‘victims’ rather than vice versa. Thus Keri is the one who’s accused of attacking her younger brother, the one who ‘screams insults’ at her ‘poor mother’ and the one accused of making ‘inappropriate sexual advances’ to her stepfather when in reality she is being raped by him and subjected to all manner of abuse.
All Keri wanted was to be believed but she was badly let down by the system and the prevailing attitude of the day and appalling attitudes, for example, by the terribly patronising Child Psychiatrist. It was easier for the professionals to believe that Keri must be lying and bad, rather than accept the reality of her situation. Of course, the manipulation of the authorities by her mother did nothing to help Keri.
For younger people who may be shocked and stunned by such attitudes, in the 1960s and 70s when Keri was growing up, children were routinely slapped, spanked, slippered at home and school, and at school, boys were also caned in the classroom (maybe some girls still were too). But Keri was subjected to punishment far beyond even what was considered ‘acceptable’ or ‘appropriate’ at the time. Regarding the horrific sexual abuse Keri suffered, this was also a time when this just wasn’t talked about: there was no ChildLine, and rape and child abuse hadn’t been widely exposed for the atrocities they were.
However, although the appalling catalogue of violence and abuse can sometimes seem relentless, the book is powerfully written and acutely observed and the autobiography is interspersed with many more positive or hopeful interludes, for instance Keri’s time at boarding school. We see a strong, resilient spirit that refuses to be broken, a feisty temperament that refuses to be cowed. Encouraged by her Nana and later some of the nuns, teachers and friends at the Catholic boarding school she attends when a little older, her love is learning and her questioning nature is fostered and she starts to blossom. At boarding school, away from her family, she gets a different perspective on the world and the family dynamics start to change when she returns home in the holidays, particularly her relationship with her brother, and without Keri to scapegoat, her mother and stepfather turn on each other until their relationship deteriorates. Observing their relationship through Keri’s eyes we start to see her mother as a pathetic, weak figure, and very rarely we get glimpses of a woman who is almost human, for instance when she shows solidarity with Keri over her spider phobia.
As Keri reaches adolescence she reaches out and makes some trusted and supportive relationships in the new neighbourhood, and we start to feel the tide turning.
It is impossible not to root for Keri. On finishing this first part, I immediately wanted to read what happens next in Keri’s extraordinary life, especially as part two is called: Keri: Fighting Back’. On my to-be-read list for sure.
Beginning with her earliest upsetting memories at the age of three, Keri is severely abused both physically and psychologically by a mother who never wanted her and who told her she was wicked. From the outset, we are there with the vulnerable little child as she is subjected to a catalogue of horrific abuse, simply for being sick, wetting herself or having a fear of water. Keri’s situation worsens when her mother moves in with ‘that man’ Terry (later to become her stepfather) who is soon inflicting punishment on her and treating her in the same brutal and abusive way as her mother. Physical abuse soon turns to sexual abuse when Keri is not yet five years old.
However, there are positive people in Keri’s life, especially her Nana, who teaches her to read and allows her free rein to be creative. Nana is kind and loving and Keri is heartbroken whenever she has to return home to her mother’s and stepfather’s. In a way, Keri would have had a very different childhood if she’d been allowed to live with her Nana. She also gets comfort through the family pets: the dog, the cats and Lambie – the lamb knitted for her by her Nana, always never far away to give her comfort during the most gruesome of times.
At primary school things are not much better for Keri, where she is bullied for being different – she has bad eczema – and when she does make a friend her mother soon puts a stop to it. In fact, like all bullies and manipulators, her mother needs to keep Keri as unpopular and friendless as possible to maintain her power over her. Once again, when Keri has a new baby brother, the difference in the way he is treated, compared to the way she is treated, is stark. Not only this, but Keri is scapegoated by her mother and stepfather so that her brother grows up thinking that Keri is treated differently and punished because she is ‘bad’ rather than because their parents are abusive. This is another way in which the appalling abuse is maintained because Keri is portrayed as ‘the liar’ and ‘the aggressive baddie’ rather than her mother. Time and again, it is her mother who is believed and not Keri. It is the same when Keri confides to a teacher and is referred to Child Guidance. By this time, Keri has already been branded a ‘bad child’ and ‘a problem child’ - her own wayward temperament seen as the cause of the problem and her ‘poor parents’ as the ‘victims’ rather than vice versa. Thus Keri is the one who’s accused of attacking her younger brother, the one who ‘screams insults’ at her ‘poor mother’ and the one accused of making ‘inappropriate sexual advances’ to her stepfather when in reality she is being raped by him and subjected to all manner of abuse.
All Keri wanted was to be believed but she was badly let down by the system and the prevailing attitude of the day and appalling attitudes, for example, by the terribly patronising Child Psychiatrist. It was easier for the professionals to believe that Keri must be lying and bad, rather than accept the reality of her situation. Of course, the manipulation of the authorities by her mother did nothing to help Keri.
For younger people who may be shocked and stunned by such attitudes, in the 1960s and 70s when Keri was growing up, children were routinely slapped, spanked, slippered at home and school, and at school, boys were also caned in the classroom (maybe some girls still were too). But Keri was subjected to punishment far beyond even what was considered ‘acceptable’ or ‘appropriate’ at the time. Regarding the horrific sexual abuse Keri suffered, this was also a time when this just wasn’t talked about: there was no ChildLine, and rape and child abuse hadn’t been widely exposed for the atrocities they were.
However, although the appalling catalogue of violence and abuse can sometimes seem relentless, the book is powerfully written and acutely observed and the autobiography is interspersed with many more positive or hopeful interludes, for instance Keri’s time at boarding school. We see a strong, resilient spirit that refuses to be broken, a feisty temperament that refuses to be cowed. Encouraged by her Nana and later some of the nuns, teachers and friends at the Catholic boarding school she attends when a little older, her love is learning and her questioning nature is fostered and she starts to blossom. At boarding school, away from her family, she gets a different perspective on the world and the family dynamics start to change when she returns home in the holidays, particularly her relationship with her brother, and without Keri to scapegoat, her mother and stepfather turn on each other until their relationship deteriorates. Observing their relationship through Keri’s eyes we start to see her mother as a pathetic, weak figure, and very rarely we get glimpses of a woman who is almost human, for instance when she shows solidarity with Keri over her spider phobia.
As Keri reaches adolescence she reaches out and makes some trusted and supportive relationships in the new neighbourhood, and we start to feel the tide turning.
It is impossible not to root for Keri. On finishing this first part, I immediately wanted to read what happens next in Keri’s extraordinary life, especially as part two is called: Keri: Fighting Back’. On my to-be-read list for sure.
May 1, 2016
This was, by far, the most sickening account of child abuse I have ever read. The fact that it was (IS) such a long, continuous, UNRELENTING story cannot be stomached. It is the story of a girl that is abused by her mother and step-father for so many years, with so many people told, that it is hard to believe. That so many people could turn a blind eye is unfathomable. It's a wonder that so many kids are taken away from parents that DO love them while this girl was relentlessly pursued by her mother only to hurt her time and time again. Everything she went through (and is still going through) is gut-wrenching. The hardest part for me though, is the ending. This is the longest memoir of this type that I have ever read and the details do not let up, nor does the abuse. The one person that gives up on her at the end made me so sick I could do nothing but cry for her. I researched Keri after reading this story and found her on Twitter. I was so profoundly disturbed and moved that I reached out to her - and she actually replied! She thanked me for some of my comments and told me little about her current life but would not divulge details about the next book. At the time (Aug. 2012), she said the next book would be out by the end of the year - it was released Oct. 2012. I will be reading it soon, even if it is with a heavy heart and mind. I urge everyone to pick it up and read it through. It's hard but it needs to be seen; people need to WAKE UP to this in our society even today!
June 26, 2012
Loved this book. Very hard to read at times. A bit disappointed in the ending, glad a continuation will follow.This story has stayed with me in a way I can't explain. Looking forward to her next book, need to hear more how life had to be better.
October 25, 2012
A bit repetitive in the early going but a story that stuck with me. I'd like to read more about how she's doing now. Edit 10/24 - I still think about this book a lot so I'm revising my rating to 5 stars.
July 10, 2012
A truly Inspiring story! I couldn't put it down. Very pleased there will be a sequel! :)
June 21, 2012
I have just finished this book.
I am left speechless at the depravity of Keri's Mother and Step-Father.
I have searched for the next one - but it is obviously not yet out - cannot wait to see if Keri's life gets any better - I sure hope it does.
Why does it seem so strange that the only people to really "believe" Kat were the Romanies and Hells Angels!!! Just goes to show all the misconceptions we all have about people and groups who are out of the norm....
Sadly this abuse is still ongoing and you only have to look at the Baby Peter & Victoria Climbie cases to see that.... When will it all end....
I feel guilty at having had a brilliant Childhood...
Kat you're a VERY brave lady.
I am left speechless at the depravity of Keri's Mother and Step-Father.
I have searched for the next one - but it is obviously not yet out - cannot wait to see if Keri's life gets any better - I sure hope it does.
Why does it seem so strange that the only people to really "believe" Kat were the Romanies and Hells Angels!!! Just goes to show all the misconceptions we all have about people and groups who are out of the norm....
Sadly this abuse is still ongoing and you only have to look at the Baby Peter & Victoria Climbie cases to see that.... When will it all end....
I feel guilty at having had a brilliant Childhood...
Kat you're a VERY brave lady.
November 29, 2012
This book was recommended by a friend yesterday. I bought it on Kindle last night and finished it today. You cannot put it down. It is a horrific sad story. It makes you gasp out loud in the silence. I have written a violent thriller on these lines and I found reading that more tolerable than reading Keri. The knowledge that this was a little girls life made me cold. I wanted to pick her up and take her away and love her.
February 12, 2013
Gripping story, really sad and found myself shouting out in rage and sheer frustration at the so called adults in place to help children. I also felt such sadness that a child had to grow up with such a wicked nasty excuse for a mother, I truly hope that keri's mother has read the book, and that she is also aware that thousands of people now know the truth about the disgraceful way she treated her daughter
February 6, 2014
Wretched and vile
My goodness. I could not put this book down. such terrible terrible, heartbreaking things to happen to such a young girl. I kept wishing things would turn for the better, and at each chapter, it just got worse and worse.
A few of the chapters need proofreading again, there are some sentences where the author mixed up names. otherwise this book is very well written.
My goodness. I could not put this book down. such terrible terrible, heartbreaking things to happen to such a young girl. I kept wishing things would turn for the better, and at each chapter, it just got worse and worse.
A few of the chapters need proofreading again, there are some sentences where the author mixed up names. otherwise this book is very well written.
April 17, 2014
Graphic detail of a child and her suffering
I find it so terrible that there is this kind of abuse going on in families and to innocent children! although the book held my interest to the end I thought the book would NEVER END. I think it could have been condensed quite a bit without losing any of the content.
I find it so terrible that there is this kind of abuse going on in families and to innocent children! although the book held my interest to the end I thought the book would NEVER END. I think it could have been condensed quite a bit without losing any of the content.
December 9, 2012
I actually read the updated version 'Keri... Child Abuse'
It was the most horrific account of a childhood imaginable and I'm ashamed to say I couldn't put it down. Kat Ward is a testament to what the human spirit can & will survive. A must read.
It was the most horrific account of a childhood imaginable and I'm ashamed to say I couldn't put it down. Kat Ward is a testament to what the human spirit can & will survive. A must read.
May 24, 2014
Surely no other child has endured a " living hell" in their young years quite as horrible as young Keri has!!
The book is so disgusting and vile you do not want to continue to read it. But you do.....continually hoping and praying that there is a happy ending!!
The book is so disgusting and vile you do not want to continue to read it. But you do.....continually hoping and praying that there is a happy ending!!
November 27, 2014
Great and powerful
I loved reading about your story and I will continue to the second book. It was frustrating because people did not believe these things were happening to you. I'm sorry you have had a rough life I hope you are living a good life now.
I loved reading about your story and I will continue to the second book. It was frustrating because people did not believe these things were happening to you. I'm sorry you have had a rough life I hope you are living a good life now.
May 16, 2012
Really shocking story and hard at times to read. A gutsy story and I am looking forward to reading Ms Ward's next book when she releases it. Felt I lived her life with her for the last few weeks.
June 11, 2012
looking forward to her next book.
i didnt realize it wasnt out yet and kept searching for it on my kindle.
anyone know when its expected to be out?
i didnt realize it wasnt out yet and kept searching for it on my kindle.
anyone know when its expected to be out?
June 30, 2012
couldn't ptttgt down
July 31, 2012
Heart wrenching
January 15, 2013
Really enjoyed this book, though very hard to read in places. Now keenly moving on to book 2 as I need to know how her life progressed.
February 19, 2013
Very long story & very good read:) I've got the second book to read now which is not as long, I got it from Amazon:)
March 26, 2013
can`t wait to read part 2. Keri has gone through hell and back yet still finds the inner strength to go on.
April 19, 2013
Took me a while too get through it... but I did. How could a mother be so cruel and allow society to believe her child to be a troublesome. Mothers are suppose to be their children's advocates!
September 26, 2013
amazing fab author
December 29, 2013
A truly horrific, heartbreaking story. So engrossing I couldn't put it down. I'll be looking for the sequel.
March 30, 2014
Strong Woman
ThisI have read many books on abuse but this one has been the worse abuse by far. Great book peoples
ThisI have read many books on abuse but this one has been the worse abuse by far. Great book peoples
September 29, 2017
The grammar and spelling errors made this book extremely hard to read
May 16, 2018
Too many questions
Too many things don't add together. Either poor proofreading, poor editing or poor memory, makes errors in this book obvious.
Too many things don't add together. Either poor proofreading, poor editing or poor memory, makes errors in this book obvious.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews