Don't Tell Mummy by Toni Maguire
First Published: 2007
Publisher: Harper Element
Pages: 343
Rating: 5*
Don't Tell Mummy is available in Paperback for £6.99 and in Kindle Edition for £3.99 on Amazon.co.uk.
You can tell from the Title and front cover of this book that it is either a memoir or a story of childhood abuse. This heart-breaking book is both. It isn't the type of book I normally pick up, but seeing it on a charity table at Tesco for Diabetes, I picked it up faithfully donating my coins into the bucket. I started reading it and I couldn't put it down. I wanted to comfort the little girl in the story and save her from the life she endured. Throughout the whole story I was waiting for her father to be caught and pay his price.
You can tell from the Title and front cover of this book that it is either a memoir or a story of childhood abuse. This heart-breaking book is both. It isn't the type of book I normally pick up, but seeing it on a charity table at Tesco for Diabetes, I picked it up faithfully donating my coins into the bucket. I started reading it and I couldn't put it down. I wanted to comfort the little girl in the story and save her from the life she endured. Throughout the whole story I was waiting for her father to be caught and pay his price.
It is wrong of me to review this book, as it is someone's real life, and a real person suffered at the hands of her parents. It would be cruel and sick to review her life. I am only going to give my opinions on this book that I read recently. The writing in this book is amazing, however, and Maguire used her words effectively to create an environment so real. Her descriptions are so in depth that you feel as though you are sat in the house watching her live her life. My heart sank as every opportunity and ounce of happiness Antoinette received was ripped away from her.
This book clearly shows the bond children have with their mothers, and despite their wrongdoings, the child will always seek love and compassion, attention and comfort from their mother. I wanted to grab Antoinette's mother and shake her until she finally apologised for being an accomplice to her husband's disgusting and unimaginable crimes against his daughter. I wanted her mother to suffer and shed her denial, and face the reality of what she let happen in her home. I wanted Toni to receive a sliver of closure whilst her mother lay on her death bed. I wished for this child - who I know is now an old lady now. I felt for her and I was disgusted and shocked at the way the authorities, relatives and adults behaved towards a young victim of sexual abuse.
Even as her mother died, Maguire tended to her every need - sleeping 'on put-me-ups' - whilst her father only visited. Her father and mother created the illusion of a happy family to the outside world. However, Toni's image as a perfect daughter was no illusion and she remained loyal to her mother to the very end, despite the betrayel her mother had enforced on her repeatedly.
My heart goes out to anyone who had to suffer as Maguire had to. This book made me feel extremely grateful for the childhood I had - I didn't live in fear of my parents and was well-loved and looked after.
I was so sad for Toni at the end of the book that I both want to, yet I am afraid to read her next book, 'When Daddy Comes Home'. However, Maguire illustrated herself so effectively in her memoir that I feel a connection to her as she revealed her secrets and most personal details. Toni Maguire is a strong, independent, lady who anyone should be proud of. What this lady had to endure throughout her life was unspeakable. I wish she could have another life with a family that loved her and cherished her for the clever, intellectual and caring person she obviously grew up to be.
If you are affected by the themes and topics in this book:-
Here are a couple of links you can check out...
Childline - 08001111
Love Charlie, Xx
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