Say Nothing: The Harrowing Truth About Auntie's Children

"Say Nothing" is the moving true story of four neglected siblings who were uprooted from their Glasgow home and sent to a small croft in the north-east of Scotland. They became trapped in what seemed like a bygone era with an old woman devoid of any emotion, compassion or understanding. For ten years, they endured daily beatings, an onslaught of physical and mental abuse, and dealt with every aspect of mistreatment at the hands of an inexperienced foster mother. The lack of nourishment and affection disturbed every minute of their day; they ate cat food and hugged any animal that would let them. They came to depend on the friendship and loyalty of a collie dog, who cried and whined with them when they were locked in a shed and lay in the fields with them when they were hiding from 'Auntie'. The children's cries for help were ignored and misunderstood in the naive social-work climate of the late 1950s, and this heartbreaking personal account of cruelty and neglect reveals the effect this maltreatment had on their ability to adjust to a normal adult life. "Say Nothing" was written as a voice of support for all abused children who were afraid or never had the chance to tell their story.