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Hear Me
"Having lived through these experiences and been unable to speak out - not knowing how to use my voice to ask for help - I am thrilled that I am finally being heard and my story is being told."
This is a memoir about childhood neglect; childhood sexual abuse; and living in care - but it is also one of the best examples of resilience and survival.
Groomed and abused as a child, Liz could easily have crumbled. Instead, she stood up and saw justice done.
But Hear Me is more than one woman's story - as remarkable and powerfully written as that story is.
It is also a call to arms for the unheard victims across the country. Liz is fiercely passionate about spreading awareness of child neglect, abuse, poverty, living in care and how that can impact people throughout life, and limit their chances of achieving their full potential.
She is determined to have an impact on this subject, to be a voice for change. Until these topics are highlighted on prime-time TV, on drive time radio shows, and are discussed around the dinner table and in the playground, abusers will continue to abuse, protected by a blanket of fear. Liz is hopeful her story will contribute to a change in the culture we live in.
Despite the horrors she has endured, Hear Me is also a beautifully, sometimes even funny, memoir which will make readers stop in their tracks and really think.
This is a memoir about childhood neglect; childhood sexual abuse; and living in care - but it is also one of the best examples of resilience and survival.
Groomed and abused as a child, Liz could easily have crumbled. Instead, she stood up and saw justice done.
But Hear Me is more than one woman's story - as remarkable and powerfully written as that story is.
It is also a call to arms for the unheard victims across the country. Liz is fiercely passionate about spreading awareness of child neglect, abuse, poverty, living in care and how that can impact people throughout life, and limit their chances of achieving their full potential.
She is determined to have an impact on this subject, to be a voice for change. Until these topics are highlighted on prime-time TV, on drive time radio shows, and are discussed around the dinner table and in the playground, abusers will continue to abuse, protected by a blanket of fear. Liz is hopeful her story will contribute to a change in the culture we live in.
Despite the horrors she has endured, Hear Me is also a beautifully, sometimes even funny, memoir which will make readers stop in their tracks and really think.
266 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 25, 2025
3 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 19, 2025
This was a brilliant and emotional read from start to finish. The story was told in such a clear and easy to follow way that I flew through it. Liz has a real gift for capturing tough situations with honesty and realism.
There were a few small things I noticed as I was reading. After the shoe shop situation, when her mum lost her handbag, they suddenly had a house key when they got home. I had assumed it would have been in the lost bag, so that confused me a little.
The moment when she went into care really stuck with me. I felt so happy for her, thinking she was finally going somewhere safe. Then that line about jumping from the frying pan into the fire completely changed the mood. It hit hard and made the story even more powerful.
Thanks NetGalley for the early read.
There were a few small things I noticed as I was reading. After the shoe shop situation, when her mum lost her handbag, they suddenly had a house key when they got home. I had assumed it would have been in the lost bag, so that confused me a little.
The moment when she went into care really stuck with me. I felt so happy for her, thinking she was finally going somewhere safe. Then that line about jumping from the frying pan into the fire completely changed the mood. It hit hard and made the story even more powerful.
Thanks NetGalley for the early read.
October 23, 2025
well written liz has been to hell and back her boyfriend is a d..k and every other word . I recommend this book its hard to put down
October 21, 2025
📚 Hear Me by Liz Hubbuck – Book Review
Hear Me is not a comfortable read, and it isn’t meant to be. Liz writes with a level of honesty that some people call “graphic,” but that reaction only proves how protected they have been from trauma. For those of us who actually lived it, this isn’t graphic — it’s reality.
What makes Liz’s story so powerful is that she tells two lives at once: her own, and her mother’s. And she doesn’t dress it up as “family dysfunction.” She shows exactly how a predator builds a whole environment around himself. He groomed Liz first — as a child — and once he had taken ownership of her, then he moved on to her mother. People like to believe predators “look for damaged families.” No. Sometimes they create the damage and then feed off the fallout. The mother wasn’t the doorway — she was the second victim.
This is what intergenerational abuse actually looks like. Not just trauma passed down — but a perpetrator replicated across generations because no one intervened early enough to stop him. The child is destroyed first, the adult later. That is not neglect. That is captivity.
Like Liz, I grew up in care. On paper, I am “not the statistic.” I haven’t been to prison. I went to university in 2007. But only people who never lived this think “success” equals not serving a sentence. The real work is surviving yourself — the flashbacks, the shame you never earned, the silence you were forced to carry because nobody saved you when you were small enough to need saving.
When I left care there was no real transitional support. The Children and Social Work Act didn’t come in until 2017 — a full decade after I aged out. People forget that many of us had nothing. No mentoring, no scaffolding, no ongoing emotional safety. We were simply dropped and told to “cope.”
Liz captures the part nobody likes to talk about: you don’t survive trauma once. You survive it again in adolescence, again as an adult, and again when you become a mother and your nervous system becomes a mirror you didn’t ask to look into. And one day maybe again as a grandmother, still carrying what you never got the chance to lay down.
Her writing refuses to pretend that mothers who are harmed are “complicit.” She shows the truth: both mother and daughter were victims of the same man — just at different points in his feeding cycle. That is how abuse persists when the system fails to see it the first time.
This book gives voice to those of us who grew up in silence, who had our reality rewritten by people more comfortable protecting reputations than children. Liz has shown a level of courage most people will never have to find. I am grateful she told the truth without softening it for anyone’s comfort.
Hear Me is not a comfortable read, and it isn’t meant to be. Liz writes with a level of honesty that some people call “graphic,” but that reaction only proves how protected they have been from trauma. For those of us who actually lived it, this isn’t graphic — it’s reality.
What makes Liz’s story so powerful is that she tells two lives at once: her own, and her mother’s. And she doesn’t dress it up as “family dysfunction.” She shows exactly how a predator builds a whole environment around himself. He groomed Liz first — as a child — and once he had taken ownership of her, then he moved on to her mother. People like to believe predators “look for damaged families.” No. Sometimes they create the damage and then feed off the fallout. The mother wasn’t the doorway — she was the second victim.
This is what intergenerational abuse actually looks like. Not just trauma passed down — but a perpetrator replicated across generations because no one intervened early enough to stop him. The child is destroyed first, the adult later. That is not neglect. That is captivity.
Like Liz, I grew up in care. On paper, I am “not the statistic.” I haven’t been to prison. I went to university in 2007. But only people who never lived this think “success” equals not serving a sentence. The real work is surviving yourself — the flashbacks, the shame you never earned, the silence you were forced to carry because nobody saved you when you were small enough to need saving.
When I left care there was no real transitional support. The Children and Social Work Act didn’t come in until 2017 — a full decade after I aged out. People forget that many of us had nothing. No mentoring, no scaffolding, no ongoing emotional safety. We were simply dropped and told to “cope.”
Liz captures the part nobody likes to talk about: you don’t survive trauma once. You survive it again in adolescence, again as an adult, and again when you become a mother and your nervous system becomes a mirror you didn’t ask to look into. And one day maybe again as a grandmother, still carrying what you never got the chance to lay down.
Her writing refuses to pretend that mothers who are harmed are “complicit.” She shows the truth: both mother and daughter were victims of the same man — just at different points in his feeding cycle. That is how abuse persists when the system fails to see it the first time.
This book gives voice to those of us who grew up in silence, who had our reality rewritten by people more comfortable protecting reputations than children. Liz has shown a level of courage most people will never have to find. I am grateful she told the truth without softening it for anyone’s comfort.
October 20, 2025
An excellent account of traumatic times.
This was a sad, heartbreaking story. I've read many stories of hardship, and difficult childhoods. I wondered if I was ready for this book yet, as I'd recently read a few of the same genre-but I soon got into it, and was gripped and emotionally connected to Liz Hubbuck's words. How do people live like this-and how do they then re-live it all to tell us in their memoirs? But how brave of them, and I'm sure it helps others who've gone through similar.
I liked the concise, conversational style; like she's there with you, telling her story. Music tracks are mentioned that were playing at the time e.g. on the radio. I always like this in books, it adds to it, certain tracks take you back to times in your own life; a particular track conjures up memories.
It's not an easy read. Of course there are uncomfortable and disturbing sections. Then it gets to the shocking and absolutely disgusting. Not a book you could say you enjoyed..... but when we think we've had a bad day, most of us just don't know the half of it, many are going through so much more than you can ever imagine.
Yet it is hopeful and inspiring. There's a bit of humour too. She's done well with her life, despite all she had to go through in her early years. Gives hope to others who've suffered similar circumstances. She wants to raise awareness and help others.
A brave lady, and a story well-told.
This was a sad, heartbreaking story. I've read many stories of hardship, and difficult childhoods. I wondered if I was ready for this book yet, as I'd recently read a few of the same genre-but I soon got into it, and was gripped and emotionally connected to Liz Hubbuck's words. How do people live like this-and how do they then re-live it all to tell us in their memoirs? But how brave of them, and I'm sure it helps others who've gone through similar.
I liked the concise, conversational style; like she's there with you, telling her story. Music tracks are mentioned that were playing at the time e.g. on the radio. I always like this in books, it adds to it, certain tracks take you back to times in your own life; a particular track conjures up memories.
It's not an easy read. Of course there are uncomfortable and disturbing sections. Then it gets to the shocking and absolutely disgusting. Not a book you could say you enjoyed..... but when we think we've had a bad day, most of us just don't know the half of it, many are going through so much more than you can ever imagine.
Yet it is hopeful and inspiring. There's a bit of humour too. She's done well with her life, despite all she had to go through in her early years. Gives hope to others who've suffered similar circumstances. She wants to raise awareness and help others.
A brave lady, and a story well-told.
October 18, 2025
This book had me gripped, I couldn't put it down. I felt sorry for how Liz was groomed and abused and what Liz went through. It is graphic in places and there is some humour as well. I definitely recommend reading this book.
October 20, 2025
Beautifully written, and tactfully worded so it can be a safe read for those who wouldn't normally read this genre. If you can find a copy that is as they are flying off the shelves.... Here's to book 2 Liz ?
October 23, 2025
Powerful, emotional story, about abuse and grooming. Truly inspirational read. Hard to read book. Will have many emotions raised. Honest and raw
November 1, 2025
2.5/5
It was ok just your average true live abused story. Not amazing writing but a quick read all the same
It was ok just your average true live abused story. Not amazing writing but a quick read all the same
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews