Punished: A mother’s cruelty. A daughter’s survival. A secret that couldn’t be told. - Softcover

Steel, Vanessa

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9780007256808: Punished: A mother’s cruelty. A daughter’s survival. A secret that couldn’t be told.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007256809 ISBN 13: 9780007256808

Publisher: HarperElement, 2008

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From the age of 3, Vanessa lived in daily terror of her mother's unpredictable rage. If she was 'naughty', her mother would lash out at her – with beatings, torture, starvation and making Vanessa sleep in their garden's pigsty, tied up like an animal. Her mother said her punishments were God's revenge on her for being the devil's child. Her father lived in denial of her suffering.

When she was 6 years old, Vanessa's grandfather began to sexually abuse her – to her despair, aided and abetted by both her mother and grandmother. At eight years old, she then discovered that the 'mother' who hated her so much had adopted her as a baby and would never love her as her own.

At the most horrific times of Vanessa's abuse, she nearly lost all hope that she would escape her prison, until mysterious things started to happen to her that allowed her to fight back.

This is the story of how Vanessa survived a childhood that nearly destroyed her and how her secret led her out of the horrors of her past.

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Product Description:

Author: Vanessa Steel
Manufacturer: Harper Element

Synopsis:

The inspiring true story of Vanessa Steel, whose childhood was overshadowed by a terrible secret. Plagued by torture and abuse by both her mother and grandfather, little Vanessa was nearly destroyed until she developed a secret power of her own that ultimately saved her life. Vanessa was only two years old when her abuse started. It began with smacking, food punishments and lock-ins by her mother, her father a silent witness to Vanessa's torment. The punishments steadily intensified with beatings and torture, and on many nights Vanessa's mother forced her to sleep the pigsty in the garden, tied up like an animal. If this wasn't enough, Vanessa's grandfather began to sexually abuse her when she was six. It was here that mysterious faces and voices appeared to Vanessa in the dark, comforting her during those horrific ordeals. From then on these 'ghost people' talked to her every day, and tried to protect her with warnings. Then at eight years old, Vanessa found out that the 'mother' who plagued her life had adopted her as a baby and would never love her as her own.When Vanessa started foreseeing the future as a teenager, she plucked up the courage to tell her parents about her spirit friends. She was rewarded with repeated visits to doctors to 'put her right'. But her insights came too late to save her brother Nigel who was also tortured by their mother and was later to tragically die from his abuse. At sixteen, she met and married a man who seemed her salvation but Vanessa was once more trapped in an abusive and violent relationship -- this time with her husband. This is the story of how Vanessa fought back against her abusers and at last laid the horrors and demons of her own childhood to rest.

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