Unwanted: The true story of a new life grown from love, loss and the ultimate betrayal

by Suz Evasdaughter

A true story of resilience, survival and achievement, and a heartbreaking tale of a father's complicity in his own family's disintegration.

In Yorkshire in the 1950s, Suz Evasdaughter, aged just 5, is moved to a children's home with her brothers. Confused, little Suz begins to blame herself for her mother's death. Her father eventually brings them back, but instead of finding a safe haven to rebuild their family, Suz finds herself plunged into a life of misery at the mercy of an uncaring and brutal stepmother.

Unwanted tells the story of Suz's struggle to escape from her broken home and leave her fractured past behind her. But lurking in the shadows is a dark family secret...

216 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 16, 2020

Reviews

[Julie Haigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, an incredible memoir.

'Unwanted: The true story of a new life grown from love, loss and the ultimate betrayal' by Suz Evasdaughter was a truly excellent book. Now; usually, eg. with many memoirs; names and locations are changed, or sometimes no locations given. This book is totally different. Imagine starting reading a true story.............and just a few chapters in, you turn the page, and the next chapter is headed:

1956: Leeds Road, Huddersfield

The town where I live! And then so many places are mentioned nearabouts-even house numbers as well as streets. It was a complete surprise to discover a lot of this happened in my locality, there were so many familiar places. Many I looked up more info about; asked my mum things etc. Very unexpected-but it sort of made it more real. It was so interesting, honest and revealing.

I loved the Yorkshire accent; how it was expressed, eg: "Nay lass, he has ta go ta school. ’E’ll come and si thi next Sunday though". I loved that this was included-but there's quite a bit of it, (but not too much either), and I did wonder if it'd be a bit of a problem deciphering it for other countries reading it? But on the other hand, I learn new words and phrases in other memoirs from eg. USA/ Australia-always good to learn summat new! To me, it had a certain charm with the Yorkshire speak. I loved reading a true story which happened in my own area, and recognised many things, shops, places. This was certainly a page turner-wonderfully written and so easy to whizz through.

Susan tells her story so beautifully. A family's story-the changing times, struggles, dysfunction. Wow, it really was an incredible memoir.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was heartbreaking, and the fact that it was a memoir made it all the more sad. This book starts out with our main character Suz talking about her life when she was very young. Things were very hard and then at only five years old she is moved into a children's home with her siblings after her then widowed father finds himself unable to care for all of his children. What was heartbreaking was that Suz and her siblings didn't even know that they were going to be placed into care they just blinked and their father had gone. This book was so different than other abuse stories that I've read before because in this one while the father wasn't being abusive he was so passive and almost ignorant to what was happening to his children, as a result of his actions. I believe that any normal parent would have stepped in and saved their children however he was blinded and thought that this was for the best. The only thing that I didn't like to much about this book was I thought it was going to be written kind of along the lines of works by Cathy glass, and I felt that this one was rather slow moving. I kept putting it down and checking to see if the description was right. Not bad overall just not my cup of tea and I struggled to finish it.

[Charlie Sandino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the story of the" unwanted" girl Suz, the true story of her life. It was a bit of a challenging read but, very good. The author tells how it started, years before Suz was born and how her mother Betty struggled before she got married to Arthur. Betty has the 3 children Arthur, Suz and Nicky. Betty gets poorly and doesn't survive. Life becomes a tourment for Suz when she gets a step mother, she suffers all the abuse and bad treatment. It is terrible how she has to live with it. Suz tells her story with bravour and it is emotional and you can just imagine how lonely the little loveable girl is. It is remarkable how Suz is able to turn her life around. It makes you feel badly for the little girl that just wanted to be loved and wanted. How instead she was abused and the environment she grew up in wasn't good. I think it was terrible that her father didn't make the good choices to keep his children together and making sure that they were loved and happy.
I think that Suz deserved to be wanted and loved like any other child!
Thanks to the author and the publisher for letting me read this book.
Charlotte N

[Michelle B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unwanted is a memoir by Suz Evasdaughter, who was born in the 1950s and documents her life up to date. She had a difficult but happy childhood, until the early death of her mother when Suz was just 5 years old. After that things deteriorated for Suz with her feeling unwarranted guilt for the death of her much loved mum.
Suz devotes much of her memoir to her early and very unhappy childhood before moving onto her later years.
Will Suz be able to break through the shackles of her childhood? Will she achieve more with her life than just working at a mill? Will she ever be able to forgive herself for ‘killing her mother’? Will Suz ever be happy again?
A great memoir which though sad at times, is definitely worth reading as it is very interesting and well written.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Kirstie Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading these sort of books makes me realise how glad I am about being born in more recent times.
This wasn't quite as hard hitting as I expected it to be, as the abuse that Sue encountered was much more emotional instead of the usual sexual or physical we read about, but even so it was hard to read how horrible her childhood was and what affect it had on her in her later years.
It may have took many many years, and lots of soul searching but it appears as if the author has finally found some peace, and has let go of some of the guilt she feels.
Great read , and would definitely recommend

[Lisa Carlile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just finished this true account memoir of susie and her struggles with an abusive time after her father remarried. I am left with tears in my eyes. Partly for the sadness for her childhood traumas and partly for the way it took her into her 60's to eventually find peace with herself. As the story unravels she finds herself questioning and trying to find ways to cope with what happened. It's a long road but which I think she eventually finds.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an emotionally hard book to read. To have lived life in those circumstances must have been horrendous. Thank goodness that we have a welfare system in place which, hopefully, manages to help children in these situations. I hope it helps the author to get some sort of closure.

[pauline goulding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small world.

I have been to Huddersfield, to my. Sister in law's. There was an accident just after they left her mothers house.and my brother died and my sister in law lived.we still keep in touch I am pleased to say. They met in the army.

[Kendra Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started of good , then got quite boring. I skipped a few pages.
It just seemed to go on and on.

[Trina Inwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in under a day. The writer writes beautifully and her life events are fascinating.

[Jennifer J Hagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very emotional book, very hard to read, but at the same time. it is a should read book.

[Stephanie Ng · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. A book written by a very bitter unforgiving woman.

[Fiona Turnbull · Rating 3 out of 5]

349 pages Goodreads