This is How I Will Strangle You
By Gideon Haigh
2019
First Published
3.31
Average Rating
128
Number of Pages
'I'm just a prisoner of my past. I don't want to be a prisoner any more.'Natasa Christidou's earliestmemory is of her father masturbating over her childhood bed. She was two. It was the start of a lifetime's physical abuse and psychological torture, which included long phases of sex slavery and sex work, institutional neglect and brutal imprisonment. [new paragraph] Aged fifty, Natasa decidedto tell her story. Gideon Haigh listened. The result is a compelling work of investigation andreportage of the silent crime of incest - usually so confronting, so taboo, that we prefer to lookaway, because of the social sanctity of 'the family'. [new paragraph] Today, Natasa lives in a tiny unit in Morwell. She is agoraphobic, vision and hearing impaired, stricken with incontinence, insomnia, panic attacks and back pain as a result of her experiences. Only with the help of a dedicated group of care workers, counsellors and lawyers has she made it so far. She is also a warm, gentle and funny woman whose survival testifies to the resilience of the human spirit. [new paragraph] This Is How I Will Strangle You takes the reader behind the headlines and hysteria around child sex abuse, and reinforces an uncomfortable truth: that women and children are sometimes safer on the street than in their own homes.
Avg Rating
3.31
Number of Ratings
13
5 STARS
15%
4 STARS
31%
3 STARS
23%
2 STARS
31%
1 STARS
0%
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