Description

By Clare White

ISBN: 978-1-84747-012-6
Published: 2006
Pages: 248
Key Themes: child abuse, sexual abuse, depression, Christianity, grief

CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

Description

Told in the voice of Annie, Diamonds from Coal is the shocking and turbulent journey of a bright eyed and long-legged little girl, manipulated into womanhood at the age of 3. Her fathers abuse starts with seemingly innocent fun games in the bath and secret fishing escapades which continue for a staggering 9 years until he succumbs to his inner monster and eventually rapes her, casting her aside to deal with the rest of her life ahead, alone. Sexual confusion, promiscuity, a war of liberation and more abuse, until she finds the man with whom she believes she will spend the rest of her days, only to have her idyllic life shattered when he is suddenly electrocuted and she is left with their two very young children. She takes refuge in the Christian church.

Whether you are a survivor yourself, looking for your voice and someone to identify with or just someone who wants to understand childhood sexual abuse this is a no holds barred, not for the faint hearted account of one womans heroic survival of childhood sexual abuse by the man she blindly trusted the most her father. In this brutally honest account of her life, we are allowed to witness a hint of something new the childs perspective and a little girls coming to terms with her tiny world being splintered and cracked in silence.

Diamonds From Coal is a remarkably brave and honest account that should help others who have suffered childhood sexual abuse realise that they are not on their own.

About the Author

Clare White was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe in 1961. She grew up in Harare where she did her schooling. She left school at the age of 16 with no formal qualifications and worked her way up in the business world eventually running 2 businesses in Harare.

She moved to the UK with her family in 1997 and wrote Diamonds from Coal in 2000 after years of therapy and self help. Diamonds from Coal is based largely on her life and survival of childhood sexual abuse. It was written mostly as a healing process but also in the hopes of exposing a taboo subject rarely written about in such graphic detail. She also hoped it would bring freedom and a voice to other survivors to speak up and heal. Silence only protects the perpetrator.

Clare now lives in Ipswich with her partner Fiona and 2 of her 3 children. She is currently studying for a degree in Social Care Work at Suffolk University College.