Wednesday 7 April 2010

How could he do it? - Emma Charles 2008 * * * *


I think this is to be the last misery memoir that I read for a while because there comes a point where you find yourself too depressed to continue reading book after book of ghastly and disgusting information about child abuse. The difference with this book is that Emma Charles is not the daughter but the mother, and she decided to write the book to give her events of how difficult it was for her monster of a husband Daniel to get convicted because of his sexual abuse on her daughter Tamsin. She painstakingly takes us through the weeks and months after finding our from her daughter about the horror that she endured and explains how awful it was for her and her family when her husband refused to give them any money to live on and so for a time they were barely making it through with benefits that she managed to receive from her disability. It really speaks volumes to have a book written like this and in a way it was more interesting than some of the other memoirs I have read by the children themselves because it shows us how corrupt and uncaring people like the Social Services and the Criminal Justice System can be (for example Daniel's lawyer tried to make out that Tamsin who was under ten at the time of the event had thrown herself on her father and forced him to perform sexual acts on her, an idea that is so disgusting and insulting that it is almost laughable) and for that I am glad I have read it and my eyes have been opened.

Started 25th March
Finished 30th March

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