Resources: Review - An insight into the realities of life in anabusive family

SHATTERED LIVES By Camila Batmanghelidjh Published by Jessica Kingsley Publishing Price 13.99 176 pages ISBN 1-84310-434-2

This is a quick but far from easy book to read. The intention is to show the reality of growing up within or on the edge of an abusive family with no protection. Camila does this through the use of letters that she writes to young people that she has known through her work.

This gives the reader an account of the events of these young people's lives and an understanding of their internal processes and behaviours as each young person struggles for survival. She devotes special attention to the violence exhibited by young people, which, for a reader unaware of the reality of abuse and the effect this has on trust and self-worth, ensures that this behaviour is understood as an adaptive response to an abusive life.