Secret Slave

by Anna Ruston

Growing up in a deeply troubled family, 15-year-old Anna felt lost and alone in the world. So when a friendly taxi driver called Malik befriended her at the taxi-rank she helped out at, Anna welcomed the attention and before long found herself agreeing to go home with him to meet his family. But what Anna didn't realize as she stepped into the hallway of Malik's home was that she would not leave the house for the next 13 years . . . Held captive by sadistic pedophile Malik and his family, Anna was locked in a bedroom and subjected to over a decade of despicable levels of sexual abuse and torture. Completely shut off from the outside world, she was broken both physically and mentally by unrelenting violence and degradation, her darkest moments coming as her abuse resulted in the birth of four babies . . . each of which were taken from her, never to be seen again. But then one day a kindly health visitor showed up, and despite her shattered mind and body, Anna spotted a chance of escape . . . A harrowing but ultimately inspiring read, Secret Slave reveals the shocking truth of what can happen behind the closed door of a very normal house on an average British street.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Audiobook, Memoir, Biography, Abuse, Crime

309 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2016

About the author

Anna Ruston is the pseudonym of a woman from a troubled family who was then held hostage an abuser by a local taxi driver.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this book does not make you angry you are not human.
Anna Ruston came from a background of severe abuse and neglect.
At 15 she naively accepted an invitation to come home with a Pakistani Malik, who then kept her prisoner for 13 years, and subjected her to a hellish life of daily beatings, torture, terror and rape. This was completely condoned and aided and abetted by his family, and particularly encouraged by his Malik's mother. Inserting objects into her, not letting her use a real toilet, terrorizing her by putting a cobra in her room of captivity (Anna had a phobia of snakes) ,, prostituting her to hundreds of Pakistani men, beating her into hospital, and removing from her four babies she had given birth to, nothing was too sadistic for Malik.

What made me most angry was that because it was an family of colour keeping her captivity the authorities would not help her for years and people were afraid to act to help her for fear of being accused of racism. The social worker who helped her escape lost her job as punishment for doing so. Today tens of thousands of British girls have been subjected to sexual slavery by Muslims in Britain in a rape jihad on an industrial scale This is not sexual, these are hate crimes against the British. Those who deny the reality of this are doing so for their own political agenda.

[Gemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a few books similar to this one over the years, but this one has to be the most horrific I have ever read.
It was 'unputdownabe' as I just wanted the horror this girl was going through to stop.
The part which fruatrated me the most in this story, was how because the family involved were of a different religion/culture - professionals did not (or would not) question the abuse that was going on right infront of them. If a westernised family behaved this way, social services would be there the same day - but this behaviour was deemed 'culturally acceptable' so brushed off and 13 years of this girls life stolen from her. It shows how wrong the system has been in the UK for safeguarding concerns.
This woman had been in hospital - I have lost count how many times, broken arms, ribs, spine, she was anorexic, pelvic inflammatory disease and many miscarraiges - 4 births with no child to show for it. Dozens of health visitor appointments, and only one woman did her job right and she ended up being disciplined and sacked for overstepping professional boundaries. This book has really infuriated me for that reason, and is one of the worst cases of abuse I have ever read. I am just glad she is safe now, and hope she finds the courage to press charges towards these monsters.

[Robin Ramone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down. I have read many books on crime and human trafficking but this one haunts me.

If by chance the author were to read this - please consider filing charges against this filthy, vile, subhuman. He is never going to stop, he will always be treating someone like this. His pathetic family will always enable him and cover for him. He needs to be punished for life. He is beyond rehabilitation.

[lisa sowell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not beleiveable

I feel like parts of this story is completely made up. She went too far with parts of this story. The main part I don't believe is that a boy she met 13 years ago and didn't even date would wait on her for all those years. Some of the abuse was also over the top. Sorry I dont buy it

[Tina Lacock · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a whole lot of bull. I don't believe a word of this woman's story.
Attention - spoiler alert: She was taken to hospital countless times over the years, for all those horrific injuries inflicted on her, as as well as for giving birth four times - but she never turned to the hospital staff for help. Her kidnapper's family and her were visited and checked on regularly by health and social workers to check on the kids - but she never turned to them for help. The police(!!) came to the house several times, due to suspicions re drug use, or violence amongst family members and even stormed(!!) the house once - but she didn't turn to them for help. Then, after 13 years she finally comes up with an oh-so-clever plan for her escape, which isn't clever at all, but just stupid, complicated and unrealistic. No, she does NOT go to the police. And the "best" part of the story: she goes back to stay with her mom, who never wanted her, but then scares away her kidnapper and his family when they find her and try to get her back. Yeah, sure... and then!... wait for it! The doorbell rings and her sandpit sweetheart's there, like a prince in shining armour on his white horse, saying as much as "Oh, been looking for you. Here you are!" and whisking her away. And they lived happily ever after, with four kids of their own. Oh, and talking about kids! She gets the chance to get back in touch with those four kids conceived through rape during those horrible 13 years and who were then all sold off to Pakistani couples, but - nah! - why bother!
Sorry to say, but this book is a disgrace. It goes so much into detail and it's hard to believe anyone could make such horror up, and for the first 50 pages or so I was in shock and feeling so sorry for the woman, but that changed right from when she was taken to hospital for the first time and didn't ask for help. And then the story went on and got more and more rudiculous.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a particularly hard one to rate because at the end of the day it is an unverified personal account by an anonymous author, and I couldn't help but question it in that light. Certainly the number of people complicit throughout the book seems suspicious, and the point where it emphasised that "people don't want to listen when you're accusing Asians because they don't want to seem racist" in the middle made me even more cautious of the author's motives, but at the end of the day maybe I am also reluctant to believe it and more keen to pick up on the inconsistencies because I do not want it to be true. I'd like to review it in a vacuum, but here is one case where authorial intent seems vital.

For much of the book, I felt that it was inappropriately descriptive, almost lurid as it described some of the rape and torture. If it was a cathartic "look what I survived" story then it's justified; if it was invented to entertain or enrage then it is awful.

These sorts of judgements pervade my view of the book throughout. However by the end I was desperately rooting for the protagonist to escape, so despite my concerns about veracity I definitely got sucked in.

At the end of the day, I don't think that this is something I'll be recommending, but it doesn't mean that it wasn't engaging.

[honeybunny · Rating 1 out of 5]

A badly written dodgy story

I read an account of this tale in a newspaper. I was intrigued enough to download the book. However, I don't believe most of it. I think Anna went to this vile family of her own volition. She was a disturbed young girl, nobody wanted her, she was ripe to fall into this foul mans clutches. The real tragedy is the countless of vulnerable girls in society that have no one to turn to and end up in exploitative situations like Anna.

[Samah Bawatneh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really want to give this book a one star for the ending, but I cannot just ignore what happened to her throughout the 13 years of her captivity (if this is really what happened and not a made-up story or exaggerated) I just cannot believe she didn’t report on Malik or the whole family! I would have killed them all for doing this to me not only put them in jail! And the fact that she gave up on her first 4 children!!!!! And that she had the opportunity to get rid of all this catastrophic life and she didn’t!!!!
At last i just cannot ignore the torture she went through and that life in that time is completely different adding to it that she had no one to stand by or defend her...

[Hamza Mustafa · Rating 5 out of 5]

i feel so bad and being ashamed for you Miss anna , not all mans are same ! Peace from Pakistan . :/

[Muhammad Abbasi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fake story created to demonize certain people.

I could not find a single credible or newspaper which covered this story. How could one be so scared not to file charges against her rapist yet not be afraid to write a book about it.

[Charlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel terrible giving this 2 stars, but I am simply not convinced this happened. It's not that I am in denial that horrific things happen. It is that some retellings in this book were logically inconsistent, bringing some parts of this story into question. I feel truly sorry for anyone who has had to suffer even a fraction of this. If the embellished/illogical parts were removed, what is left is horrific enough on its own. No need for the other parts to be added (if they were; could simply be my own misguided opinion).

I am still very interested in reading books about sex slavery/trafficking, if anyone has suggestions for a more credible source than this book.

[Kev Leroux · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am in shock that anyone could listen to this book and believe that it's a true story. It isn't that this could not happen to someone. There are many true crime books of this nature..This book is not one of them.
It's pure fiction.

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m surprised by the number of people this author fooled. This simply is a work of fiction! If you want to write fiction, that’s totally fine! But call it fiction, don’t lie!
The things this girl supposedly endured night after night would have left her so traumatized that she would most likely have a mental breakdown and not have the capacity to “bake with the other wives in the kitchen”.
And the romance with a former boyfriend? Give me a break—she went in a few dates with him at the age of 15 and she happened to have a picture of him in her almost non-existent belongings and she happened to find a lose floorboard? Puh-Leeze!
So every single adult in her life except her great grandma hated her?? Her dad beat her nightly and locked her in a coal shed?? A woman she trusted and stayed with had a husband that raped her at age 11 and the lady accepted it immediately and divorced him?

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir of a girl who was kidnapped by a Pakistani taxi driver at the age of 15 and then held for 13 years, with the full collusion of his family, really made my blood boil. If even a fraction of the events narrated by Anna were true, the whole family should be held to account for their cruelty and abuse - I just hope she gets the strength to report them to the Police as they deserve to be incarcerated for a very long time, having denied Anna her childhood and the key years of her life, with the clearly long-lasting effects of their brutality affecting her even now (and probably always will). It would be an offence to animals to call these people 'animals' as they are far worse than that! Disturbing and frustrating read - 8.5/10

[elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disheartening book

I rated this book 5 stars because of the content, openness, and above all her bravery. The book has a lot of chilling details and saddening to know that things like this happen every day. The book was written well and it was very descriptive of the terrible ordeal she endured during her captivity. I wouldn't read it again because the images are etched in my brain but it was definitely a good read. This book was read in 6 hours.

[Jess☺️]

Secret slave is a true life story I rated one star because how do you put a number of stars to rate someone's horrendous life,I don't read real life as a rule and I can't say why I did with this one but once I started I needed to know if she got away.
I had so many emotions such as heart break,sadness and anger whilst reading this book.
I can't believe how someone life can be so horrendous from day one and I can not believe that this poor girl/womens life was seen by many important people and nobody seen a thing, I can't recommend it either because I don't think anyone should feel the way I felt when reading this.
My god I don't know how anyone can survive what Anna did.

[Nevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF!

I just couldn’t get through this memoir. Extremely violent, disturbing and sadistic.

Too many extremely violent rapes, physical and mental torture. NO! Not for me.

[Brandy Stull · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to say anything negative about a person whose life was a literal fucking hell, but the writing in this book was not good. And it really could have been. That said, I read it in less than 24 hours waiting and hoping and praying there would be a satisfying ending. There kind of is... but not enough. I honestly I wish I hadn't read this.

[Jett of the hollow 🏹]

Listened to the audiobook with my mom

[comfort · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a review of the book, as such.
It is a very upsetting story and providing it is all true you wonder how she survived, let alone get pregnant so many times.
What I found most disturbing was that Anna seemingly had quite a few times when she could have asked for help, especially when she was in the hospital (numerous times) alone with the staff.
I also found it unnerving that despite her many many visits to the hospital no flags were raised, surely they had her medical records or could see the obvious signs of abuse. So maybe the system let her down.
Not an enjoyable read and really giving it stars is a difficult decision.

[Claudine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I will surely have a lot of people mad at me but I don't buy it! The whole story is just too much and too over the top to be real. She was held captive by about 10+ people and none of them ever felt bad or did anything for her, what are the odds that all of them are psychopaths??? There's so many things that don't make sense at all. No, I don't buy it! The fact alone that she refuses to press charges says enough for me. So she's been badly tortured for 13 years and then refuses to press charges knowing damn well that her torturer might kidnap another victim? Sounds like the thing to do...

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really hard to read.. I can't believe this actually happens to people!
Anna was so brave and I'm glad she managed to escape in the end..

[Grey Klee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really feel uncomfortable getting into incredible detail on why I didn't like this book. As a childhood SA survivor myself, whose story has been called false and attention-seeking, I don't want to nitpick this book. There are a few things I will point out that were upsetting that aren't related to the anonymous author's unproven claims: the first few pages alone felt very uncomfortable the way that she described this household, when she said that the kids pointed at her and shouted 'Gori' and then noted that they weren't scolded is when the red flags were raised for me. It's not a derogatory word, they wouldn't have been scolded for using a word that simply means "white person". I'm skipping over all of the abuse, the majority of the book, as previously stated. Then there's the ending. The fudging ending. Her brilliant plan after 13 years of horrific abuse is far from brilliant, and the boyfriend from before she ran away from home having shown up like a knight in shining damn white armor who's apparently been looking for her? While going through my abuse I certainly had my fair share of knight in shining white armor fantasies, of someone coming and whisking me away from my homelife, but that's all they were.. fantasies.. the ending felt like a fantasy.. the book in entirity felt like a fantasy.. just a slightly more complex version of people who know nothing about severe childhood trauma faking having severe childhood trauma disorders. I regret reading this in one sitting and regret spending money to buy it in the first place.

[Emily Murfitt]

How can you put any rating on someone’s awful, real-life experience?

This is the most horrendous book I have ever read but I just could not stop reading. I just had to know it would get better. Incredibly graphic and not for the faint-hearted.

I don’t know if I could recommend it purely for how disturbing the experience is. I shed tears throughout and in the few breaks I took, all I thought about was Anna’s experience which made me feel sick to my stomach.

The Jamie part at the end- to me, seemed unrealistic (as many other reviews have stated) but I would LIKE to think that someone who had endured so much would get such a wonderful surprise, god knows she deserved it!

What is perhaps the most heartbreaking is the negligence of the NHS, social and law enforcement in this country. So devastating to see that given so many opportunities, nobody sought to intervene.

I doubt the real ‘Anna’ will ever read these reviews but if you happen to I truly hope you are some way to finding any sort of peace.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was honestly such a heartbreaking read. At times it was really hard to read the horrible things that she had to go through and it was honestly one of the worst cases of abuse I've ever read about.I couldn't put this book down and I finished it in one evening as I was eager to find out how she managed to survive such a awful ordeal. I felt this book was well written and made the reader feel as if she was directly speaking to you and she described how she was feeling throughout all her terrible experiences. She was truly so brave and I just hope she's in a much better place physically and mentally and that all her children are too.

[Abigail T · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s always difficult to write a review for a true life story such as this but here goes.
The story was really addictive and found it rather graphic at times. It’s a harrowing read that provokes many questions. In such true stories I always find myself asking ‘why’. Why not inform somebody sooner, why not try to escape sooner, why waste opportunities to have these people prosecuted but until you are in that situation I suppose you would not know how you would react. What a life this girl has lead!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book evoked so many emotions in me - anger, sympathy, sadness, depression and still more anger. What was done to this poor girl was beyond comprehension. This true story is very well written, but to be totally honest, it was repetitive with one abusive rape after another. After a while the story became so draining for me to read that I had to "push on" to finish it. I so wanted something awful to happen to her captors, but sadly it never did. There is a HEA of sorts if you stick it out.

[Arlette Moadeb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I normally love books that talk about kidnapping and rape but this was just waaaay out of line. It starts good but then it just gets to repetitive and the things that are done to the kidnapped girl seem kind of made up...

[yvonne stubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shocking

So sad and horrific but i couldn't put the book down. Hope she prosecutes the filthy scum and gets some sort of justice

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was really hard to read but also a hard book to put down.