How Could He Do It?

Nov 17, 2024 6:31 AM

Author:Emma Charles

How Could He Do It?

'In many ways we were an ordinary family: mum, dad, two kids, three dogs, one rabbit, two guinea pigs. I stayed at home, studying with the Open University, and dad worked, and the kids went to private schools. We lived in a rather nice semi in a rather nice area of Edinburgh, with a rather nice Volvo in the drive, and took rather nice holidays, wearing rather nice clothes. I loved Daniel deeply and I thought - no, I was sure - he loved me deeply, too. And we both loved our kids deeply (I thought). And that was as it should be. We had it made.

In some ways we weren't a completely ordinary family. There was Daniel, for one; he worked for most of the time we were married as a ship's engineer, and so he was away from home for up to four months and then home on leave for up to two. And Tamsin, our fifteen-year-old daughter, had specific learning difficulties.

But I'm pretty ordinary: an unlikely heroine. I am disabled because of back problems. I'm pretty fat - I've put on a lot of weight through lack of exercise and, yes, comfort-eating! Not the stuff of movies.

But I never for a moment dreamt that my family was all that extraordinary - until that day when Tamsin broke down and told me that her father, my loving husband, had been sexually abusing her.'

Reviews

A true story about Ellen's discovery that her daughters were being sexually abused by their father. There are no arrests, no happy endings and no one gets "healed". Instead, it's a painful account of how the children are harmed and how communities respond to such accusations. At a time when so much focus is on convictions and criminals, I found this a moving reminder that the reality of these situations is much more complex

—— Ros Coward , Observer

Ellen Prescott writes with a literary flair that adds to the power of her story. She hits the reader in the gut on page 1: "In 1982, when my daughters were four and one, I decided to kill them . . . I was so in love with them, there at the door of their bedroom, that all I could think of was murder." You'd have to be anesthetized to put the book down at this point

—— Toronto Star

I recommend it to anyone, including most physicians who need a better understanding of human responses to suffering

—— Willard Edwin Smith, BSc, MD, FRCP

Well paced and at times excruciatingly well written

—— Quill and Quire

This is a gripping story which I read from start to finish at one sitting

—— Geist

A deeply moving and disturbing story of a woman winning the battle to create a safe place for herself and her family

—— The Leader

Powerful and well-written

—— Pacific Current Magazine

The saddest story I have ever heard... it touches levels of human agony far beyond the reach of everyday journalism

—— Craig Brown , Mail on Sunday

This book brought tears to my eyes several times... but despite the tragedy at the heart of the book, there are flashes of humour

—— Daisy Goodwin , The Sunday Times

Deeply moving

—— Angus McBride , Guardian

A searingly honest book

—— Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan , Daily Express

Extremely honest and candid

—— Lorraine Kelly , Sun

(A) testament to the ferocity of maternal love

—— Allison Pearson , Daily Telegraph

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