Helpless

Product Description

The next heartbreaking book by Toni Maguire. Eight year old Marianne the eldest of five children was neglected by her slovenly mother & her violent alcoholic father. Uncared for & unkempt she was rejected at school by her peers & scarcely tolerated by her teachers. Only one person gave her the affection she craved; a neighbour who seeing the vulnerable child knew she was easy prey for his perverted desires. Little Lady he called her over the few months he groomed her. Less than twelve months later she was caught in a trap of fear
- if she talked she would be punished. With no one to turn to she kept their secret. At thirteen she fell pregnant. Still too frightened to speak out she refused to tell the social workers who the father was. Without family support the teenager gave birth to a daughter in the unmarried mothers home. Six weeks later the baby she had already grown to love was taken away for adoption. Marianne returned home but the neighbours abuse continued & a year later she was pregnant again. This time her father literally tried to beat the baby out of her but she failed to miscarry. Scared for her life & that of her babys she ran away from home carrying only a plastic bag stuffed with her few possessions. Marianne who still missed her first child desperately struggled to keep her second daughter. Two months after the birth she realized that for the babys sake she would have to hand her over for adoption. Helpless is Mariannes heartbreaking story as told the bestselling author of Dont Tell Mummy.