Moving and Inspirational

This book gives women the opportunity to "speak" against the abuse that happened to them. I appreciated the way it was organized into types of abusers (fathers, family members, siblings, strangers, etc.) so that you could go to the areas that were of most interest to you. I would highly recommend this book to anyone having been through abuse as a child.

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I saw myself in the pages...

This book provides insight into the inner workings of child sexual abuse and why victims don't tell. The stories range from a quick one-time exposure to unthinkable brutality. Some perpetrators were strangers; others were family members. All caused lasting emotional damage. The accounts are so honest and true that they allowed me to recognize for the first time that I had been molested, and it completely changed my life.

I read "I Never Told Anyone" about twenty years ago, when I was still living with my parents, not long after I graduated from college. My mom had checked it out from the library, and the title haunted me because I, too, had a secret I had never told another living soul. I read the back cover and then kept moving the book away from wherever I was in the house, terrified of what was inside. Finally, I couldn't resist. I stayed up all night and read it from cover to cover. I saw my own story in the things that were said, the feelings that were expressed... For the first time I realized that maybe I wasn't evil; that maybe I didn't deserve to die; that instead, as an innocent child, I had been manipulated and molested.

It was the most difficult thing I have ever done, but because of this book, I did tell, and I got help. Child sexual abuse is extremely devastating, but there can be happy endings, and I am living one. Thank you so much, Ellen Bass and your courageous contributors, for your part in that.

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Compelling--and quite graphic

I don't generally like short story format, but I found this book to be better than I expected. Just be warned that some of the stories are graphic and can be disturbing, so be prepared. It must have been quite empowering for the women to tell their stories since, as children, they likely kept it a secret. Another book that comes highly recommended is Miss America By Day by Marilyn VanDerber.


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