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I'm Fine
A true story of trust, betrayal and exploitation
In 1996, at the age of fourteen, Richard Hall met a man who changed his life. Two and half decades later, he called the police. As a result, the man was jailed for twenty-two years.
This is the story of what came before the police: how a teenage boy who had been hounded at school because he was gay walked into a world where he thought he would be safe, but which he was too inexperienced to navigate. In his naïvety, he thought what happened next was normal, or somehow his fault.
In a vivid, compellingly readable account, Hall recreates with unnerving frankness – and with surprising bursts of humour – the year in his childhood when the attention of older admirers went to his head, with lasting consequences for the rest of his life.
I’m Fine is not just the intensely moving story of one mixed-up boy’s private hell. It also stands as a powerful warning about predators operating with the impunity conferred on them by ‘community’ status.
In 1996, at the age of fourteen, Richard Hall met a man who changed his life. Two and half decades later, he called the police. As a result, the man was jailed for twenty-two years.
This is the story of what came before the police: how a teenage boy who had been hounded at school because he was gay walked into a world where he thought he would be safe, but which he was too inexperienced to navigate. In his naïvety, he thought what happened next was normal, or somehow his fault.
In a vivid, compellingly readable account, Hall recreates with unnerving frankness – and with surprising bursts of humour – the year in his childhood when the attention of older admirers went to his head, with lasting consequences for the rest of his life.
I’m Fine is not just the intensely moving story of one mixed-up boy’s private hell. It also stands as a powerful warning about predators operating with the impunity conferred on them by ‘community’ status.
321 pages, Hardcover
Published August 21, 2025
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 20, 2025
It’s very hard to believe that “I’m Fine” is Richard Hall’s first book.
This powerful, harrowing but ultimately uplifting account of one traumatic year in the life of a gay teen will make you cry, make you laugh and leave you reflecting on how trauma can and does have a life-long impact. It’s not in any way a “misery memoir”, it’s so much deeper than that.
Young Richard is fourteen years old, just outed, bullied and beaten up at school and needing safe spaces and safe guides to his new world of being a gay teen. His mother is very much lead parent in trying to help Richard find a safe path, but is deceived by a predatory gay health charity worker into thinking that he would be a safe adult for Richard to be around. That deception had life changing consequences for that man – now in prison for his crimes – he normalized Richard to sexualised behaviours, groomed him and ultimately raped him.
Richard Hall’s account of what happened and what the lifelong consequences of that abuse have been is a truly illuminating, uplifting and inspiring memoir.
It helps that he has a direct and disarming writing style that can take the reader from sadness and concern to laughing out loud in a few short paragraphs. He channels the sharpness, cynicism and sometimes offensive humour of his younger self honestly, bravely and without embarrassment.
“I’m Fine” is without any doubt the best and most powerful book I will read in 2025. It should be read by anyone considering what safeguarding and safe spaces should be, and especially about what can happen when safeguarding controls are undermined, ignored or broken. I hope that the messages in it are received well by parents, guardians and other responsible adults, and that the author’s hope to prevent even one other young person from being groomed and abused in the way he was is fulfilled.
This powerful, harrowing but ultimately uplifting account of one traumatic year in the life of a gay teen will make you cry, make you laugh and leave you reflecting on how trauma can and does have a life-long impact. It’s not in any way a “misery memoir”, it’s so much deeper than that.
Young Richard is fourteen years old, just outed, bullied and beaten up at school and needing safe spaces and safe guides to his new world of being a gay teen. His mother is very much lead parent in trying to help Richard find a safe path, but is deceived by a predatory gay health charity worker into thinking that he would be a safe adult for Richard to be around. That deception had life changing consequences for that man – now in prison for his crimes – he normalized Richard to sexualised behaviours, groomed him and ultimately raped him.
Richard Hall’s account of what happened and what the lifelong consequences of that abuse have been is a truly illuminating, uplifting and inspiring memoir.
It helps that he has a direct and disarming writing style that can take the reader from sadness and concern to laughing out loud in a few short paragraphs. He channels the sharpness, cynicism and sometimes offensive humour of his younger self honestly, bravely and without embarrassment.
“I’m Fine” is without any doubt the best and most powerful book I will read in 2025. It should be read by anyone considering what safeguarding and safe spaces should be, and especially about what can happen when safeguarding controls are undermined, ignored or broken. I hope that the messages in it are received well by parents, guardians and other responsible adults, and that the author’s hope to prevent even one other young person from being groomed and abused in the way he was is fulfilled.
July 20, 2025
A vivid and heart wrenching account of a young gay person. Authentic and poignant. A must read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews