Breaking Silence [Paperback]

The most controversial book on family violence published this year, BREAKING SILENCE was initially banned from major book chains after a 50,000 strong Facebook boycott campaign ripped across New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the UK protesting its publication. The boycott campaign had been based on false information, however, and designed to deliberately whip up public hysteria during a Coroner's Court hearing into the deaths of two twins. Now that the book has been published the critics are praising it. Breaking Silence uses the life story of mother Macsyna King as the narrative to explore the problem of intergenerational child abuse and its impact on modern society. Herself the victim of terrible abuse and abandonment as a child, King's life falls apart when her premature identical twin sons are murdered and the father is charged with the crime. Although we frequently hear about such cases, it is rare to hear from one of the key participants in her own words. Breaking Silence is the story of a mother's journey to hell and back, and the search for justice for her twins in the face of a backlash from a society that turned its back on her. It explores and sheds light not just on child abuse and violence in the home, but analyses society's attitude to women in child abuse cases. The latest forensic debates about child abuse injuries are explored, as are the social choices many of us face every day that can lead to disaster. REVIEWS: This mammoth book is a top achievement & should be a school text.. - Rachael Ford, psychiatric nurse ***** The book so many maligned before it came out reveals a mother we haven't met. When I last wrote about Macsyna King, I said I didn't think I'd like her. I've changed my mind. I certainly think she outclasses the Wellington radio announcer who posted on Facebook that after receiving her advance copy of Breaking Silence , she had spat on it, wiped my ass on it, and ripped it up . Imagine your life reduced to sound bilÃ)