Without a Mother's Love

'It's so strange how your life can dramatically change from just one event. I now see my life divided into two - before ... and after.'

Amanda Wright was just four years old when she witnessed her mother's brutal murder. John Dickinson, a family friend, strangled her mother to death and then tried to do the same to Amanda. He laid their bodies out on their bed, set fire to it and left the house, hoping the fire would conceal the crime.

It was the milkman who saved Amanda's life, though it was too late for her mum, Sue. Amanda spent weeks in hospital, enduring painful skin graft operations on her burned legs, before moving in with her grandparents. From the day of the tragedy she was haunted by flashbacks and nightmares, and on her first day of school, Amanda watched other children crying for their mummies and suddenly realised that she would never see her own mother again. It was a painful adjustment for a little girl who, until that moment, had spent her whole life with her mum.

Without a Mother's Love is a sad yet beautiful and inspiring story about a girl who lost everything but found the strength inside herself to make her mother proud.

'I watched the documentary on TV and had to read Amanda's incredible story ... and once I started reading it, I found it unputdownable' - Amazon review

Without a Mother's Love was written by Amanda Wright and Sussex-based ghostwriter Katy Weitz.