MUMMY'S WITNESS

Hardback. To the outside world the Sanders family was a respectable one. The father a teacher, the mother a housewife and mother of three. No one could have believed what went on behind the front door of their large detached home. The only childhood memories the author has are of unimaginable terror as she watched her father viciously abuse her mother. She herself endured physical and sexual abuse. There was no love, often no food, and no one to turn to for support. Any semblance of family life came to a brutal end the day when, at just 12yrs. old, she was forced to witness her father kill her mother. Her father pleaded manslaughter and received a sentence of 3yrs. but served less than 14months. With incredulity the author learnt after his release, that he had become a vicar. Gayle meanwhile, numb with shock and grief, passed from foster family to psychiatric hospital where she narrowly survived a suicide attempt. Believing herself in safe nursing hands, she was to undergo the further shocking trauma of rape. A harrowing story of a childhood shattered by brutality and the author's inspirational determination to triumph over her past. 306pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Lightly browned pp. o/w Nr. F. in F. dw.