Showing titles in Dysfunctional Families

Confusing. Crazy making. Draining. Does this describe your relationship? Do you wonder if they will ever change? Do you want to know why they lie so much...even when the truth would work better? Have you wondered why they never seem to change - no matter how much you are willing to do for them, or how much love, understanding, rehab, religion, therapy, second (or 22nd) chances you’ve given them? If so, you are not alone and this book is a great place to start.

Growing up in a quiet, middle-class suburb outside of Amsterdam, childhood best friends Anna and Olivia had their whole lives ahead of them. But every parent's worst nightmare came true when the teenagers fell in with the wrong crowd. Eleven years their senior, Ryan was charming and good-looking...

Charlene Downes was 14 years old when she went missing in the seedy underbelly of Blackpool. Once a happy-go-lucky schoolgirl, she had turned into a truant. Though Charlene was hanging out with a new crowd by takeaway shops and the pier, her mum, Karen, always knew her typical teenage daughter would come home. But one day she didn't.

The Watsons are no strangers to sibling placements, but when Casey takes the call from her supervising social worker one frosty January morning, she can instantly tell from the tone of her colleague’s voice that there’s a complicated case ahead. And she’s right. A four-day-old baby boy called Tommy - born in prison - plus his four-year-old half-brother, the lively Seth. A month later, the very moment she gets out of prison, the boys’ mother - a 19-year-old called Jenna - also follows.

Gaia was groomed, abused and enslaved – but then she fought back Gaia Cooper is just 14 years old when she is groomed by a criminal gang and forced to commit organised credit card fraud. Despite being placed in care – somewhere Gaia should feel safe – she is left even more vulnerable, and...

“Heart-pounding, illuminating, and ominously timeless” (Gina Frangello), this honest and poignant memoir reflects on a woman’s escape from a violent marriage and what it cost to protect her and her family’s safety. “Once upon a time, I disappeared.” So begins Karen Palmer’s...

After taking a few weeks off work, Casey is presented with a new foster child: 14-year-old Elise, whose Mum left her at just five years old. At first, she’s no trouble at all, that is until she falsely accuses another carer, Jan, of acting inappropriately towards her. It turns out this isn’t the first lie Elise has told—her previous carer was constantly following up allegations Elise had made of people bullying her, trying to have sex with her or hurting her physically. 

Ade is about to start at a new school. She is not happy with her stepdad for making them move here. Shanice has been at the school for a year already. Since her mum died, she’s been living with her dad and annoying older brother, spending most of her time outside school in her dad’s hair salon. When Ade and Shanice meet in the salon, and spot each other’s diaries, an instant friendship is formed, and they start to chat online...but offline is a whole other story!

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.

Being partnered with a narcissist or borderline personality can be hard enough, but learning how to shield children from the fallout is paramount. Here, the authors tell listeners how to manage parenting when a narcissistic or borderline partner is part of the equation.

A family with a dark secret. A child who refuses to speak. Rosie must help her before it’s too late. Nine-year-old Caitlin has a secret, but she cannot tell anyone about it. When her mother is sectioned under the Mental Health Act she and her three siblings have to go and live with her...

While hiking on a solo vacation in a remote, uninhabitable region of Arizona, Zachary Anderegg happened upon Riley, an emaciated puppy clinging to life, at the bottom of a 350-foot canyon. In a daring act of humanity that trumped the deliberate savagery behind Riley’s presence in such a place, Zak single-handedly orchestrated a rescue. What didn’t come out in the initial burst of publicity this story received is that Zak and Riley’s destinies were intertwined long before they improbably found each other.

In her memoir, Monica, 54, tells the story of her childhood, when her mother, Betty Mount, forced her head under running bathroom taps and tried to strangle her. She had previously tried to kill Monica as a baby. Monica was taken into foster care, where her new parents ran a brutal regime. To the outside world, the family was devoutly religious and respectable, but behind closed doors, Monica was physically and sexually abused.

Daisy-May Jones was four years old when she was told by her parents the family was moving halfway across the world to Australia for a better life. Leaving everything behind, including her beloved grandparents, Daisy-May spent a happy and secure few years adapting to a new life. But after the breakdown of her parent's marriage, she stepped into a nightmare as her mother introduced a new step-father to her and her disabled brother.

Despite leaving the courtroom with her reputation intact, Kat's inner life was in turmoil, and it was only due to the loyal support and steadfast encouragement of her ever-increasing fan-base that she managed to complete the sixth volume so soon. Following on from the fifth book, in which she lost her identity but somehow found herself a husband, Karin now finds herself in the precarious position of having to move in with her partner's family - a move known to strain even the tightest of marital bonds.

Is the Narcissist in Your Life Driving You Crazy? Are you tired of feeling exhausted, enraged, and overwhelmed by the insane things they do? This book will help you understand what the heck is going on and what to do about it. For over 25 years I've seen the profound damage narcissists cause in my clients' lives. I created this book out of a passion for helping people break free of those devastating dynamics.

A “touching memoir” (The New York Times Book Review) that “brilliantly blends a history of Boston and its surrounding areas with the history of a fascinating—and at times functional—family” (Isaac Fitzgerald, New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts) as one girl...

A shocking true story that reveals how one woman was tormented to the very depths of despair by her husband through coercive control and continual physical and sexual abuse. Broken in mind, body and spirit and completely isolated from the rest of the world, Hannah thinks she’ll never find the...

In July 1965, teenagers Sylvia and Jenny Likens were left in the temporary care of Gertrude Baniszewski, a middle-aged single mother, and her seven children. The Baniszewski household was overrun with children. There were few rules and ample freedom. Sadly, the environment created a dangerous hierarchy of social Darwinism where the strong preyed on the weak. What transpired in the following three months was both riveting and chilling.

Set against a backdrop of East End London, Georgia experienced a childhood few of us could imagine. Though brought up in a loving family, she watched her family break apart through deceit and her mother descend into heroin addiction. Escaping into what she felt was a loving sanctuary, Georgia ended up trapped in a violent relationship with a man who would beat and abuse her. After having her three children by him, she knew she had to escape to finally find safety.