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Victim Zero
Kat Ward was the first victim to speak out about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Jimmy Savile, and her testimony was a catalyst for the uncovering of decades of abuse and cover-ups.
Ward’s childhood was deprived and marked by sexual abuse, and she was placed into a home for troubled children. She first encountered Savile as a 14 year old at Duncroft Approved School in Surrey, where he would regularly drive up in his Rolls Royce and offer sweets and cigarettes in return for sexual favours.
Ward first spoke on camera as part of Newsnight’s infamous shelved Savile exposé, but it was ITV’s Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile that led to his unmasking as a serial sexual offender and opened the floodgates for hundreds of other victims to come forward.
Although the last few years have been trying, they have ultimately brought Kat vindication after years of being accused as an attention-seeker and liar. This is a unique, harrowing and immensely moving perspective on one of the biggest news stories of the last decade.
Ward’s childhood was deprived and marked by sexual abuse, and she was placed into a home for troubled children. She first encountered Savile as a 14 year old at Duncroft Approved School in Surrey, where he would regularly drive up in his Rolls Royce and offer sweets and cigarettes in return for sexual favours.
Ward first spoke on camera as part of Newsnight’s infamous shelved Savile exposé, but it was ITV’s Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile that led to his unmasking as a serial sexual offender and opened the floodgates for hundreds of other victims to come forward.
Although the last few years have been trying, they have ultimately brought Kat vindication after years of being accused as an attention-seeker and liar. This is a unique, harrowing and immensely moving perspective on one of the biggest news stories of the last decade.
- GenresNonfiction
288 pages, Paperback
Published July 28, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 15, 2021
Well written couldn't put it down.
May 1, 2023
✨Book Review ✨
Victim Zero - Kat Ward.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
It has been time since I last read a non-fiction book. This has reminded me why it’s so important to read such books. They truly show the importance of not being passive in situations but actually supporting strangers, children, when they appear in need.
This story follows a woman named Kat Ward. She was the first woman to speak out against Jimmy Savile -albeit unknowingly. It explores the court proceedings of herself and Savile as well as some horrific and tragic childhood stories in which she was disgustingly abused in every way possible by her mother and stepfather. It shows how childhood experiences lead to trauma later down the path and, for her, how it all lead to being abused by Jimmy Savile.
I went into this book not realising it was part of a series; it didn’t matter. The previous story was well interwoven that I didn’t feel like I’d missed anything. It explored a sort of dual timeline whereby we learn about her struggles in the present time and her court case with Savile alongside the experiences she faced throughout childhood.
Despite it appearing that this book is centred around Jimmy Savile, it actually wasn’t the whole focus. It explored so much of Kat’s relationship with her parents that Savile didn’t actually come until later in the book.
It’s always difficult to give someone’s life story, childhood trauma, a star rating. Therefore, my rating is purely centred around the writing style. My criticism lies with the lack of cohesion. I felt the story was a bit skittish and jumped all over the place. It wasn’t really told in a chronological order, more of a this happened but then this happened earlier but then this is happening now. It caused a lot of repetition and I found myself reading about the same experience several times. HOWEVER, I am human and I’m aware that this must have been so incredibly difficult that chronology wasn’t perhaps the main focus.
That being said, the overall message of this book truly did inspire me. It’s books like this that make all the difference; encouraging people to reach a hand to those around them, offer them support and just simply believe them.
Victim Zero - Kat Ward.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
It has been time since I last read a non-fiction book. This has reminded me why it’s so important to read such books. They truly show the importance of not being passive in situations but actually supporting strangers, children, when they appear in need.
This story follows a woman named Kat Ward. She was the first woman to speak out against Jimmy Savile -albeit unknowingly. It explores the court proceedings of herself and Savile as well as some horrific and tragic childhood stories in which she was disgustingly abused in every way possible by her mother and stepfather. It shows how childhood experiences lead to trauma later down the path and, for her, how it all lead to being abused by Jimmy Savile.
I went into this book not realising it was part of a series; it didn’t matter. The previous story was well interwoven that I didn’t feel like I’d missed anything. It explored a sort of dual timeline whereby we learn about her struggles in the present time and her court case with Savile alongside the experiences she faced throughout childhood.
Despite it appearing that this book is centred around Jimmy Savile, it actually wasn’t the whole focus. It explored so much of Kat’s relationship with her parents that Savile didn’t actually come until later in the book.
It’s always difficult to give someone’s life story, childhood trauma, a star rating. Therefore, my rating is purely centred around the writing style. My criticism lies with the lack of cohesion. I felt the story was a bit skittish and jumped all over the place. It wasn’t really told in a chronological order, more of a this happened but then this happened earlier but then this is happening now. It caused a lot of repetition and I found myself reading about the same experience several times. HOWEVER, I am human and I’m aware that this must have been so incredibly difficult that chronology wasn’t perhaps the main focus.
That being said, the overall message of this book truly did inspire me. It’s books like this that make all the difference; encouraging people to reach a hand to those around them, offer them support and just simply believe them.
August 7, 2024
A great account of her defamation trial and her mental struggles in light of nearly constant abuse through her early life. While this book was marketed as being about Savile it's about so much more than that, it's about Kat in her entirety and to read of someone's life like her's is inspiring due to her immense strength in coming out the other side of such an experience and creating work which can help others.
January 11, 2022
If you don't know the story from the beginning
then it's very difficult to keep up. I had to google the characters.
then it's very difficult to keep up. I had to google the characters.
July 23, 2024
This book is so hard to put down, lat has had an incredibly deprived childhood. Your heart will go out to her. She has been incredibly brave ( even though she thinks she hasn't)
October 12, 2016
I spotted this book in my local library a few days ago. What I didn't realise at the time was that this book is part of a series of books. Nonetheless, it didn't spoil it for me by not reading the other books first.
This book flicked backwards and forwards between Court and parts of her life whilst growing up. It is a harrowing story and there were times when I felt if things were a little exaggerated. When I look back, I doubt it was. I never did like the person she refers to as FS, even at the height of his fame. Nor did I like JS, even though I enjoyed his shows as a youngster.
If you enjoy reading these type of books, then I do recommend. As I said, this book is part of a series and you may want to read the previous first.
This book flicked backwards and forwards between Court and parts of her life whilst growing up. It is a harrowing story and there were times when I felt if things were a little exaggerated. When I look back, I doubt it was. I never did like the person she refers to as FS, even at the height of his fame. Nor did I like JS, even though I enjoyed his shows as a youngster.
If you enjoy reading these type of books, then I do recommend. As I said, this book is part of a series and you may want to read the previous first.
July 12, 2024
I ended up skim reading this. I just couldn’t get in to it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews