This is the heart wrenching story of a little girl who braves her mother's anger, rejection and abuse during her formative years. It is a story of America's shame--the dirty secret of child abuse that hides in homes all over the country. Each page of the book holds the reader's rapt attention as the words vividly relate the fear and pain that cloud the innocent world of a small child whose only sin was being born. The author has woven the truth of her childhood, from ages four to nine, into an 'on the scene' view of her experiences of lonliness, despair and sadness mixed with her self-determination, self-reliance and courage to survive.