Rag Dolls And Rage

This is a well-paced story of love in the face of adversity, giving readers a fly-on-the-wall view into an idyllic English childhood turned upside down.

Rag Dolls and Rage is a coming-of-age memoir set in northern England in the '60s; it ends in Canada in the 21st century.

At age 4, Sheila is uprooted from her grandparents' cozy home to live far away with a temperamental mother and abusive stepfather. She is rescued after a year, but is now a damaged, fearful child. This causes her to be bullied at school; however, she's relieved to be living back with her grandparents. Then, at 15, Sheila returns to her mother after her grandmother dies. Again she is thrown into a turbulent family life, eventually leaving home to travel the world and find herself.

After settling in Canada, Sheila realizes the need to deal with memories of the past, and spends a year with a brilliant psychotherapist who helps her to see her life and herself in a different light.

Rag Dolls and Rage is equal parts raw, happy, sad and funny, and it ends victoriously: a book that will surely help others scarred by their pasts.