Before I Was Born, She Did This.: A True Story, Of Survival, Secrets, Lies, And Being "At Risk" From Day One

by ALIA BREEZE

230 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2025

Reviews

[Kathleen Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Survival, Secrets and Lies 

Before I Was Born,  by Alia Breeze is a powerful and deeply personal memoir of survival and self-discovery. Breeze writes with raw honesty about growing up  Breeze was at risk from the start, facing family secrets, neglect, and trauma. But Breeze finds healing through creativity and resilience.  

This book Is emotional, unflinching, and  a hopeful story that stayed with me long after I finished the last page. 

[Liz Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first met Alia back in 2008 when I was in hospital recovering from pneumonia. I’d come up from a strict and serious ICU onto a respiratory ward where I met Alia, who was working as a nursing assistant and she immediately stood out from the rest with her short and shaved multi-coloured mass of curly hair. She was such a hoot and we’ve remained friends over the years. She’d told me bits about her mother who didn’t sound caring at all but I hadn’t known to what extent. It turns out Alia had been beaten, starved, humiliated, and lived in great fear growing up. About 5-6 years ago, Alia told me she’d found out about a truly horrific crime committed by her mother, which she was imprisoned for. I was shocked beyond belief.
Alia has now written this book about her upbringing and fight for justice, as she was let down immensely by the local authorities and children’s protection services and the police. This is her way of making her voice heard. Her tenacity is to be admired. Children are still heartbreakingly being abused and killed by their family and the authorities are clearly not doing enough to avoid this.
The book is a hard read (although there is a lot of Alia’s scouse humour there and a feel of Liverpool itself), but it’s difficult to stop reading it at the same time because Alia tells her story with brutal honesty and emotion that one can’t deny there are deep failings in protecting vulnerable children. A must read.

[Adele Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Alia went through and continues to go through is horrific. How the authorities have managed to get away with not being held responsible is beyond me. It’s obvious why people who have suffered historical abuse, don’t come forward.