Twilight Children: Three Voices No One Heard – Until Someone Listened - Softcover

Hayden, Torey

4.24

5,537 ratings by Goodreads

9780007219902: Twilight Children: Three Voices No One Heard – Until Someone Listened

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007219903 ISBN 13: 9780007219902

Publisher: Harper Element, 2005

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From the author of the phenomenal Sunday Times bestsellers ‘One Child’ and ‘The Tiger’s Child’, comes a startling and poignant memoir of three people's victimisation and abuse – and their heartbreaking but ultimately successful steps to recovery, with the help of Torey Hayden, an extraordinary teacher.

Two children trapped in a prison of silence and a woman suffering in the twilight of her years – these are the cases that would test the extraordinary courage, compassion and skill of Torey Hayden and ultimately reaffirm her faith in the indomitable strength of the human spirit.

While working in the children’s psychiatric ward of a large hospital, Torey was introduced to seven-year-old Cassandra, a child who had been kidnapped by her father and was found dirty, starving and picking though rubbish bins to survive. She refused to speak, so Torey could only imagine what she’d been through. Drake, by contrast, was a charismatic four-year-old who managed to participate fully in his pre-school class without uttering a single word. Last, there was Gerda, eight-two, who had suffered a massive stroke and was unwilling to engage in conversation with anyone. Although Torey had never worked with adults, she agreed to help when all other efforts had failed.

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Review:

‘Torey Hayden deserves the kind of respect I can’t give many people. She isn’t valuable, she’s incredible. The world needs more like Torey Hayden.’ – Boston Globe

Synopsis:

From the author of the "Sunday Times" bestseller "One Child", comes a startling and poignant memoir of three people's victimisation and abuse - and their heartbreaking but ultimately successful steps to recovery, with the help of Torey Hayden, an educational psychologist. In "Twilight Children:, Hayden tells three gripping stories. At the centre of the book is the story of Cassandra, a nine-year old girl who was kidnapped and abused by her father for two years and, by the time Hayden starts working with her, is ready to lash out at anyone who tries to befriend her. Running parallel to Cassandra's story is that of four-year-old Drake who won't speak to anyone except his mother. The third narrative is about Gerda, an elderly woman who, after suffering a stroke, refuses to free herself from her self-imposed silence and crippling depression. Told with compassion, sensitivity, and, believe it or not, humour, "Twilight Children" is the story of one woman's fierce determination, the struggles of three people, and their amazing road to recovery. Torey Hayden is an educationalist whose work centres around elective mutes and especially children who won't speak due to a trauma in their lives.

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