Abandoned: The true story of a little girl who didn’t belong

by Anya Peters (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $3.26

  'Abandoned' is the true story of a childhood full of secrets, abuse and a little girl who didn't belong. This inspirational story is about how one woman finally overcame her traumatic childhood and adult homelessness to find a place she could call home. 'Abandoned' tells the heartbreaking story of a little girl's abusive childhood and her subsequent homelessness as an adult. Born illegitimately to Irish lovers, Anya was given away by her real mother and brought up in England by her loving aunt. However, her childhood with her new family was far from happy -- verbally and sexually abused for years, Anya finally cracked. She was only 11 years old. Then, a few weeks after her violent uncle was taken away by the police for questioning, Anya lost her whole family overnight. They didn't die, although they might as well have done; they just went away, abandoning her. There was no one else to care, so Anya pretended that she didn't either. She learnt to shut down, and not to let anybody in. She thought that she had worked through it all, overcome it. But then, several years later, through a series of unrelated problems, her life imploded again. Several things ended together: a job, a relationship, money, luck -- and she ended up homeless and living in her car in a laneway at the edge of the woods.

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.26

  Separated from her real mother at birth, Anya grew up in terror of her drunken bullying uncle. Beaten, humiliated and sexually abused by him from the age of six, she thought her life couldn't get worse. But one day it did. I was used to Daddy screaming 'whore's child' at me, over and over again. But I couldn't get used to what he made me do. Anya was too terrified to tell anybody about what her uncle did to her. But then he got careless and started abusing her in front of the other children. When her brothers started calling her a 'whore', Anya cracked and all her terrible secrets came pouring out. Anya had always coped because there was one woman who loved her deeply, her 'Mummy'. But this time love was not enough. One morning 'Mummy' just left. Determined to make a new life, Anya buried her feelings and tried to move on. But when she ended up homeless, living in her car, she knew she had to face her past if she was ever going to find happiness and security again. Top 10 Sunday Times Bestseller, Abandoned is Anya's inspirational story of her fight to find love, acceptance and a place to belong.