A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER!
As seen in the DAILY MAIL, THE SUN, THE DAILY RECORD and TAKE A BREAK magazine
"Heartbreaking and inspirational in equal measure, this poignant memoir about a victim of abuse and their battle for justice will live with you long after the final page has turned." - Love Reading
"It was like going through a door which had been locked all my life. I had walked past it every single day, afraid to even rattle the handle. Now I was smashing the locks, I was wrenching it from the hinges, and I was marching through. Here I am!"
A woman whose mother twice tried to kill her as a child has won a ground-breaking battle in the supreme courts for the right to claim compensation.
Monica Allan's legal victory set a precedent and has opened the floodgates for others to claim in her wake. Thanks to her 12-year legal fight, other victims now have hope. Other victims now have a voice.
In her memoir, Monica, 54, tells the story of her childhood, when her mother, Betty Mount, forced her head under running bathroom taps and tried to strangle her. She had previously tried to kill Monica as a baby.
Monica was taken into foster care, where her new parents ran a brutal regime. To the outside world, the family was devoutly religious and respectable, but behind closed doors, Monica was physically and sexually abused.
Failed by a second mother figure, she moved into her own home aged 18 and went on to have four children. Monica loved her children but battled constantly with the demons from her past. She carried her dark secrets around with her for 40 years until in 2010, haunted by her trauma, she finally decided to seek justice. She was told she could not seek compensation because of the 'same roof' rule, meaning victims who lived with their attackers up to 1979 were ineligible for pay-outs.
For the past 12 years Monica has been fighting her case through the Supreme Courts and was recently awarded compensation from CICA in respect of the sexual abuse she suffered in foster care. She is awaiting a second settlement for the attacks by her mother.
A 54-year-old mother and grandmother, Monica Allan carried the darkest of secrets around with her for most of her life. When, 12 years ago, she decided to seek compensation, she was stonewalled. Now, thanks to her determination, hundreds of other victims will benefit retrospectively from a change in the law. Monica lives in Glasgow, she is single, and is a mother and grandmother.
Bestselling authors and journalists, Ann & Joe Cusack have ghost-written six memoirs, all of which have been original material self-sourced and developed.
Their relentless pursuit to find and develop original stories continues through their day to day, grass roots work, seeking out and providing content for numerous national newspapers and weekly magazines.
Based in Manchester under their business name, Focus Features Ltd, they have a long track record of following stories and working with ordinary people who have found themselves thrust into the spotlight by extraordinary events.
