This beautiful & deeply moving tale recounts educational psychologist Torey Haydens battle to unlock the emotions of a troubled & sexually abused child who with the help of Hayden was finally able to overcome her dark past & realise her full potential. Six-year-old Sheila was abandoned by her mother on a highway when she was four. A survivor of horrific abuse she never spoke never cried & was placed in a class for severely retarded children after committing an atrocious act of violence against another child. Everyone thought Sheila was beyond salvation -- except her teacher Torey Hayden. With patience skill & abiding love she fought long & hard to release a haunted little girl from her secret nightmare -- & nurture the spark of genius she recognised trapped within Sheilas silence. This is the remarkable story of their journey together -- an odyssey of hope courage & inspiring devotion that opened the heart & mind of one lost child to a new world of discovery & joy.