A Broken Childhood by Lydia Taiwo

[Sheila English]

It seems today there is an epidemic of abuse in many forms. The worst form is child abuse. The victim is small, easily intimidated, easy to manipulate, easy to harm. The abuser is a bully, and bullies always pick on the victim least likely to fight back. The most egregious abusers are parents.

Author Lydia Ola Taiwo knows about the worst of these - the parents, for they are the ones who abused her. A childhood spent in fear of a parent coming home, fear of footsteps coming down the hall, fear of what pain would be inflicted next.

In her book, A Broken Childhood, Ms. Taiwo gives personal and intimate details of a life lived as a victim. Often harrowing, and always gut-wrenching to those of us who value their children more than their own life.

Readers however will be delivered from the darkness, much as the author has been. Hers is not a self-deprecating story. Lydia's story is about overcoming the odds, of showing herself and others how to rise above some of the worst odds a child could face and succeeding. She succeeds on so many levels readers will find themselves cheering her on and perhaps a few readers will find their own ladder out of the darkness from her words.