Just A Boy: The True Story of a Stolen Childhood by Richard McCann

This is the true story of a small boy, just five years old, who woke up one October morning to discover his mother was gone. And it is the story of how the murder of one woman can ruin a family and trigger decades of deprivation and abuse.

After their mother became the first victim of the Yorkshire Ripper, Richard McCann and his sisters' lives fell apart. They were beaten and abused throughout their childhood until they began to expect nothing more than pain from life. Until, one day, the young man that Richard had become decided his life didn't have to be this way.

Just A Boy is an extraordinary and affecting book about love, tragedy and determination.

Sometimes you just have to decide to survive.