Showing titles in Dysfunctional Families

Award-winning journalist Rachel Louise Snyder once believed all the common misconceptions about domestic violence: that it happen to an unlucky few; that it’s a matter of poor choices; that if things are dire enough, victims will leave. Her perception changed when she began talking to the victims and perpetrators whose stories she tells in this book.

Barbara was 12 when she was admitted to the psychiatric hospital Aston Hall in 1971. From a troubled home, she'd hoped she would find sanctuary there. But during her stay, Barbara was systematically drugged and abused by its head physician, Dr Kenneth Milner. Somehow, eventually, she started to campaign for answers. This is a shocking account of how vulnerable children were preyed upon by the doctor entrusted with their care.

Three-year-old Lexie, five-year-old Amelie and thirteen-year-old Leo come to Maggie after Leo confesses to a teacher that his mother's addiction problems and her latest violent relationship has left him as the sole carer to his younger sisters. Maggie welcomes the three children into her home and is touched by the gentle care Leo shows to the two little girls. It is clear that Lexie and Amelie adore their big brother and rely on him for comfort and reassurance.

You don’t stay in a toxic relationship with a narcissist because you’re weak. You stay because you’re confused. If you’re married to a narcissistic woman who drains your confidence, rewrites reality, punishes you emotionally, and still somehow makes you feel like the problem, this book was written for you. From the outside, your marriage may look normal. Even successful. Behind closed doors, you’re walking on eggshells, second-guessing yourself, and slowly losing who you are. And the most painful part? You can’t fully explain why.

When foster carer, Cathy Glass, is asked to foster Darcy-May, a two-day old baby, she is very concerned. The baby is coming to her straight from hospital and will have no contact with her teenage mother, Haylea. Even more worrying, she will be brought to Cathy with a police escort as it’s...

Every family has a story. For some of us, our family of origin is a solid foundation that feeds our confidence and helps us navigate life's challenges. For others, it's a source of pain, hurt, and conflict that can feel like a lifelong burden. In this empowering guide, licensed therapist and bestselling relationship expert Nedra Glover Tawwab offers clear advice for identifying dysfunctional family patterns and choosing the best path to breaking the cycle and moving forward.

A devastating story of coercive control and domestic homicide. Why would an 'ordinary' father murder his family? On 19 July 2016, Claire and Charlotte Hart were murdered in broad daylight, by the family's father, using a sawed-off shotgun. He then committed suicide. Luke and Ryan Hart, the two surviving sons, open up about their experiences growing up and the circumstances surrounding the murders. They hope to highlight the patterns of behaviour in coercive control and its deadly consequences, improving public awareness and leading to informed discussion on domestic abuse. 

In this bestselling psychology book, leading relationship and marriage therapist Robin Norwood reveals why we get into unhealthy relationships and how powerfully addictive they are—and shares her effective framework for finding and sustaining love.

PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT THEIR FATHERS. TOO STRICT. TOO INSRUSIVE. TOO MUCH. MINE? HE KILLED PEOPLE. The untold story behind the hit true crime podcast The Clearing, this unforgettable memoir traces one daughter’s moving quest to understand her larger-than-life childhood as she searches for the...

When Kat Ward put down her pen after finishing the seventh book in her “KERI” series, she considered her mission complete. Nearly twenty years had passed since her therapist originally recommend writing as a means of healing her childhood wounds. And after taking listeners on a stomach-twisting journey through her hellish formative years, she was ready to look in the mirror again.

In this groundbreaking bestseller, Lundy Bancroft—a counselor who specializes in working with abusive men—uses his knowledge about how abusers think to help women recognize when they are being controlled or devalued, and to find ways to get free of an abusive relationship. He says he loves...

Why do some people manipulate, exploit, and harm with chilling consistency—while others, even when raised in the same environment, do not? Cruelty by Nature dismantles the comforting myths that abuse is merely the product of trauma, bad parenting, or social wounds. Instead, it draws from neuroscience, genetics, and clinical psychology to reveal a sharper truth: personality pathology is rooted in stable biological systems that bias individuals toward exploitation.

When Sandra Leigh was seven years old, she fell into the role of protector of her mother and three younger siblings. One winter night, she ushered her mother out of the house during one of her father’s tirades, and then snuck her back into the dark home through a window. Sandra was used to events like these; what she wasn’t used to were the mountains and nature surrounding her new home in West Virginia.

The complete three works of Ben Cole-Edwards. A powerful exploration of childhood trauma, narcissistic parenting, and emotional reprogramming. This audiobook gives you the clarity and validation you never received growing up and shows you how to reclaim your peace.

Rejected by her mother and excluded by her school, Flip is a little girl desperate to be loved. ‘Am I ugly, Mummy?’ are the first words that little Phillipa says to Mike and Casey as she stomps into their lives on a hot August afternoon. She has a Barbie doll in one hand and a pink vanity...

The next book in Louise Allen's Thrown Away Children series.

In this classic work of developmental psychology, renowned psychiatrist and the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller What Happened to You? reveals how trauma affects children—and outlines the path to recovery How does trauma affect a child's mind—and how can that mind recover? Child...

The heartbreaking story of three little children searching for someone to love them. Maggie Hartley faces one of the toughest challenges of her career when three abused and neglected siblings she’s been caring for are placed for adoption with a family she believes are unsuitable. The couple are looking for a perfect ready-made family, and Maggie knows that they’re not going to find it with these traumatised children. 

Dark, sharp, blackly funny and powerful, this is memoir, wielded as weapon, with the tightly compressed energy of an explosive device. 'She has a poet's gift for language, a playwright's sense of drama and a stand-up comic's talent for timing. But perhaps most remarkable is the generosity of...

Experienced foster carer, Rosie Lewis, takes on the heart-breaking case of Megan, a baby born with a drug addiction and a cleft palate. Addicted to drugs from birth because of her mother’s substance abuse during pregnancy, new-born Megan is taken into Rosie’s loving care. Rosie is supposed...