The second of Kate Skylark's co-written true child abuse stories. Steve Gilbert is a charming, clever man. Lucy is his ten-year-old daughter. Lucy loves him to bits, just as all little girls love their daddies and she is delighted to hear he has organised a special party for her. After all, little girls love parties. But Steve Gilbert is also a sociopathic, manipulative sexual predator. Brainwashed into accepting her father's twisted view of the world, Lucy trusts him implicitly. Daddy will keep her safe; he will keep her happy. Daddy would never betray his little girl, would he? But as time goes on, Steve Gilbert's evil manipulations escalate and following a shocking string of events, Lucy's innocent young life turns from simple happy childhood to an abusive nightmare. Only one person can save her now. Lucy Gilbert and Kate Skylark are friends and confidants. They wrote this book together to help raise money to help children in danger. For every book sold or borrowed, a donation will be made to the NSPCC WARNING: This book is based upon a true account of child abuse, and as such contains passages that some readers may find disturbing.
Very disturbing book. It was supposed to be a memoir but the writing style is so disgusting I almost think it’s child porn smut in disguise of a memoir. Reads like the sick fantasies of a pedophile rather than a true account.
How devastating for this child. A children we should always be able to look up to our parents as our protectors and the ones who know right from wrong. Even though the mother was having a hard time with her husband I still can't help but put some of the blame on her for not protecting her daughter. If it was my child I would have died trying to save her from the very first time she walked in and caught her husband in the shower with her child. Hell I would have put a stop to it long before. How a mother can leave a child in a house even without the sexual abuse with knowing knowledge of the photo albums and videos this man had in his night table. How could she allow a man to continue to wash her daughter when the child was ten years old? At some point all kids learn how to wash. Way before the age of ten.
As for the father, I hope to this day he is still living in hell for what he put his daughter through. I hope when his end comes he pays for each sin that was pushed against this child. Nothing, no matter the extent can take away the wounds he has committed to his daughter
I had a very strong idea what the book was going to be about, but I never expected I’d become so engrossed with the very fluid and engaging storyline that I would easily finish it in less that 2 hours. I could feel how Lucy was feeling… the fear, disgust. mixed messages, manipulation and lies. I cried, sobbed to be honest, hearing little Lucy graphically tell her story and believing, ( just as I did having been a victim “now a survivor “ of early childhood sexual abuse by a family member) that it was normal. I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling to devictimize the past abuse they endured and also to those responding and interacting with the children and/or adults that have reported but still feel stuck. Lot’s of triggers but with empathy I believe they’re ones that help in the healing process. Thank you Lucy and Kate for this awesome and tear jerking book. You have an even stronger follower here! Keep them coming!
This book was seriously gut wrenching. The things that she went through at such a young age...I just can't imagine.
Her dad makes me sick! It's so sad that this is reality for some children.
She is such a brave person and her mother is a strong and intelligent person for how she handled getting her out of the situation.
I like that Kate wrote it the way she did. Keeping it in the first person view of a child and just putting in notes at the end of each chapter that captured what the victim was feeling as an adult was very immersive.
I had a weird feeling the whole time reading, like it was wrong that I was reading but I couldn't stop.
Overall it was very well written and captured what she went through in a thorough but not overly graphic way.
Honestly this book was atrocious - like an earlier review said the book is classified as a memoir but it’s almost like a book about child pornography. The way it is read/written makes it almost worse.
I have given this memoir a 4 star rating because it was well written & no questions as to what was happening. The author did not use inflammatory remarks or heavy descriptions to tell her story. Remarkable account of a true life event(s) that was shocking & horrific to read/absorb. Mr. Gilbert was a horrible person whose diseased perversion should have been investigated long before Lucy became trapped. I was surprised that England's approach to reported child abuse was not fully investigated.
This is the book that really rekindled my interest in reading.
It is the most disturbing story I have ever read, but I couldn't put this one down. It is well written, I love that Skylark tells the true story as it is, not elaborating and adding in unnecessary words and details. She simply just tells you what you need to know.
It was so good, I read the other stories of hers fairly quickly also, but this one was my favourite, because it is so messed up and unbelievable.
This book it pretty short. More like a novella, really. As is the case with all of these books, the story is beyond tragic. What amazes me, is how does the author find all of the people she writes about? Im not saying that the books are fictional, but do they come to her or does she find them? Is England the paedophile capital of the world?
I found this book through a web article involving disturbing books. This book was horrifying and made me want to throw it across the room. My heart breaks for this author and any children treated even a fraction of this way. Well written, but really tough to read. Not sure if I'll read more by this author...
Pretty awful what happened to her. I did feel very angry but mostly at this girl. I shouldn’t it isn’t fair. But she seemed to be mentally so young. 10 yrs old? Like I get manipulation but this did not seem like the mentality of a child that age.
I’m glad she never saw her father again. So disgusting.
Being a survivor of sexual abuse myself, what was said in the beginning about the need to connect with other survivors was profound to me, so true. I read this book in one sitting. Absolutely appalling what this little girl was put through. What an amazing ending though. I highly recommend this book.
This book is about a sick twisted man that sexually abuses his 10 year old daughter. Men like this make me sick and wonder what would make a person do things like this. God help the children that have to go through something like this.
This book is sick, but it tells what is going on there in homes we know nothing about, I can hardly believe this man actually tried to convince his daughter this was ok. I hope he was hung by his balls
Did not really like how the author wrote the story. It was like she was telling a bad fairy tale story and did not make the story seem real. I will check out her other books but if they are written like this I will not be buying her books.
It’s very sad that this kind of stuff happens and I can’t express enough how sorry I am that it happened. Yes everyone hurts in their own ways. So many people can relate in one way or another. Thank you for sharing your story.
This book took me less then an hour to read... very fast pace. Such a sad story, but quite repetitive.. not sure if an entire book needed to be dedicated to this. I liked the transition between 10 year old point of view and current adult point of view.
This book made me angry and had tears knowing what children go through and wishing I could do more in my job to save children's from evil , the ending was great and was so happy to see a ring of paedophiles off the streets
Truly heartbreaking that this kind of stuff happens, I'm sure, all the time. I listened to this on audible, and whoever the reader was, was very very good at it. My heart raced for her to get out from under her dad's spell, and I'm so glad it ended the way it did.
Well written and easy to read but horrific it will make you angry. How any father can be so cruel is beyond me..... horrible horrible man hope there's a place in hell for him
I somehow stumbled soon this book. I found this story harrowing.The recount of this via the daughter is heart wrenching. To think that this goes on everyday around the world breaks my heart. Abuse levels are shocking today.
Many thanks to the two writers. You retained the feel of the innocence of childhood, while recounting a story of horror and abuse. I am glad to see a happy ending after such monstrous villains had so much power over you for so long.
Oh my f####g god! I was hoping she would shoot him and his friends! I could have chewed through nails while reading this story. It is the most tragic, heartbreaking story of this sweet baby. Only read if you have a strong hold on your emotions!!!