Böcker av Pauline Richer

I still carry scars of an abusive, miserable childhood. My father only needed to look at me and I instantly wet myself. I was skin and bone because instant diarrhoea was normal until I was 19 years old, when I left home to get married. After making a mess of my first marriage I reverted back to my upbringing and ended up in a second marriage which was very violent. I was 'used' and 'abused' and like the idiot I was I allowed it to go on. I do have something positive from my life with my father. I thank him for instilling into me, my determination NEVER TO BE LIKE HIM. Pauline was born into a slum area and left school with few prospects. With hard work and determination she became a successful career woman and a force to be reckoned with in business. She has just isolated herself from friends and family to write her story.

I married Olly for the wrong reason, which had been to protect what I had worked for. I now have a baby to him and nothing has changed. In fact, his drunken violence has multiplied and I now have to protect my daughter Sam as well as myself. He's bought a Winchester 5 shot repeater and "I'll blow his fucking brains out" or "Can he run faster than lead" became his party piece. I lost count of the number of times I was the subject of his death threats. He told my mother she would get a petrol bomb through her letter box because she had answered my phone to him. When he had me locked in a house, badly injured Sam was screaming through the window "Leave my mummy alone". Olly's words of comfort to his not yet seven year old little girl were to scream back at her "Fuck Off".