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Mummy's Witness: My Mother the Victim, My Father the Killer

Author: Sanders Gayle
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
Category: Book

This item is no longer available

Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

5 reviews
Sales Rank: 911882

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 306

ISBN: 034093350X
Dewey Decimal Number: 306
EAN: 9780340933503
ASIN: 034093350X

Publication Date: December 11, 2008 (In 140 Days)

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - Mummy's Witness: My Mother the Victim, My Father the Killer
•	Paperback - Mummy's Witness

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Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars

Good read November 10, 2007
I agree with the reviewer, Louise. Gayle's family was totally dysfunctional and her brother, sister and grandparents on both sides abandoned her at her time of need and they should be ashamed of themselves. However Gayle achieved her aim of gaining a significant degree at university and went on to make a success of her life. I wish Gayle every success and I also wish all the best for all the people who helped Gayle including the Minters as they didn't know the whole story. However I did not agree with Gayle's recollection that she came from a middle class family or that her father was "highly educated" as she puts it. He was a footballer with Charlton and then took a teacher training course to teach children PE; they lived in properties tied to his job at the schools he taught at and her mother did not work until later in life when she became a receptionist at a hospital, all of which sounds very working class to me. After her father came out of jail he studied theology and became a vicar but he was booted out after it transpired he had cheated on his exams.

5 out of 5 stars

Amazing September 6, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I have just finished this book - it is a simply told and absolutely powerful account of Gayle's childhood and her mother's torture by her father. I feel sickened at the litany of abuse perpetrated by this disgusting cowardly bully, and enraged at the inactivity of those who knew - including a vicar, a "christian" who supported this man and helped to endure he got a slap on the wrist for murdering his wife and infecting his daughter with a lifetime of pain. My heart broke at the fact that Susan, with all her hopes for a safe future was slaughtered and then she was slandered, and her little daughter cut adrift amongst strangers who, for the most part couldn't have cared less. I don't know why, but I found myself crying non-stop at the gift of a packet of Rolos given to Gayle by her Mother in the last hour of her life.

At her lowest point - hoping to begin to address her feelings around her Mother's death, and just after a suicide attempt, Gayle is raped by a predator who counts on her vulnerability to get away with it. And this brave young woman, despite not being believed, and despite a past in which she has been taught to accept that there is no way to stand up to sexual abuse, presses charges. I was thunderstruck at this. Gayle's life is a triumph despite the atrocious suffering and betrayals she experienced.

Gayle, love, should you ever read this review, I want you to know that as I type it, I have a candle burning in honour of Susan. It is a soft pink orchid-scented one. I am also playing Mozart's Requiem - I think Lachrymosa is a fitting hymn for Susan, who I am sure is very proud of you. She couldn't be otherwise. Be assured that you've done her justice when nobody else would. I hope writing the book enabled you to achieve some healing - as well as being a most powerful way of confronting your "father"(I don't know of anybody else to whom that term could be more loosely applied) It's such an important work from a social viewpoint too, because you've really challenged stereotypes of domestic violence. Paticularly, I thought about how the accepted wisdom is that there is a "cycle of violence" i.e the battering phase, remorse phase, honeymoon phase etc. But for some women - and for Susan - it is just an unremitting reign of violence and terror not punctuated by the "better times." I'm so glad you pointed out that women are in most danger of being killed when they're leaving - those people who ignorantly sneer at women who don't "just leave" need to be confronted with that. Being a survivor of child sexual abuse and adult rape myself, the words you used to describe the rape by Kevin - raping the body of a woman but the mind of a child - resonated deeply with me. I think that's the best way I've heard for describing why we may respond in very old and conditioned ways.

I wish I could just hold you, Gayle. I honour Susan and I celebrate that you survived. Thank god you've found people who love you as you deserve and that you have turned this history into the ability to assist other women and children traumatized by domestic violence. I hope you get a glimpse of how amazing you are. You could have been a statistic; you became much more.

I guess I can't help hoping that we'll hear more from you in the future about your life and your healing. I'll be thinking of you.

Thank you, Gayle, for your courage and for giving us your book. It's excellent.

5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant September 1, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

As soon as I started this book, I couldn't put it down. I couldn't believe that Gayle had actually gone through all what she had from a small child through to a young adult. It had me in tears many times throughout the book. Even though she had tried to commit suicide on numerous occasions, she managed to come through it all with the utmost courage all without turning to alcohol and drugs that probably most people would have done having gone through what she had. I am just so happy that she found love at the end. A truly wonderful and courageous woman, an inspiration to us all.

5 out of 5 stars

very disturbing read August 28, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

A very well written book and highly recommended for all readers.

This is a VERY upsetting life story of Gayle Sanders. After a lifetime of witnessing her father, a respected member of the community, beating her mother up Gayle had to endure witnessing the horrific murder of her mother. It took many years for Gayle to even mention the details of that night.

The subsequent traumas Gayle had to overcome in her life are too many to list here - read the book! The author attempted suicide many times and endured several stays in hospital, all the time knowing her father was out of prison and watching her from the shadows.

Gayle has survived her horrendous start in life with the help of a few good friends and has thank goodness found a partner whose emotional support she can rely on.

I am glad that Gayle found the strength to overcome her fears in life to write this fabulous book. It was a courageous decision and hopefully will help survivors of abuse to battle their demons.

5 out of 5 stars

Simply Brilliant August 27, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Have just put this book down, and i have picked it straight back up again. Simply brilliant book. One of the most inspiring stories I have ever read. A simply brilliant book.