The Quotable Will Rogers

Hugo Hamilton

The Speckled People: A Memoir of a Half-Irish Childhood

"A terrific achievement, thoughtful and compelling, smart and original, beautifully written." --Nick Hornby"Astonishing. . . a landmark in Irish nonfiction. . . a masterpiece." -- Washington PostA deeply moving and critically acclaimed memoir about a young boy growing up in 1950's Dublin with a German mother and fiercely republican Irish father.Born to an Irish father and German mother, Hugo Hamilton and his brother and sister grew up being just about the only children in 1950's Dublin wearing Aran sweaters and Lederhosen. Their father, a Gaelic speaking Irish nationalist, forbid them from talking to their friends in English. And their mother, a soft-spoken immigrant who escaped late 1930s Nazi Germany, baked German cakes and told wistful stories of a country that no longer existed.For Hugo, childhood seemed like an ongoing struggle to understand what it meant to be "one of the speckled people"--his father's phrase to describe "the New Irish, partly from Ireland and partly from somewhere else." A rare and shockingly honest account of a child's attempt to make sense of his family, language and identity, The Speckled People stands among the most fiercely original memoirs to emerge ...

Tom Mitchelson (Author)

Don't Ask Me about My Dad: An Inspiring True Story of a Scared Little Boy with a Dark Secret

Growing up with him was like being in my own war zone, living in perpetual fear of when the bombs would fall. I was terrified of becoming him, and in moments I could feel I might. He still lives within me grimly like some battered demon spright. And I'm fearful of his shadow. The rage, and his blood. There are some moments when he arrives and I want to tear up the whole world with my bare hands, and all I really want is love. I want him away now. Please. Just go. While growing up in Essex, Tom Mitchelson and his identical triplet sisters routinely witnessed unspeakable acts of violence and abuse at the hands of their dad. They would watch in horror as he dragged their mum around the house, but they never dared breathe a word. Tom knew his dad was a monster, but it seemed he had nowhere to turn until a kindly teacher sought his company... Don't Ask Me About My Dad is an inspirational story of how one isolated young boy overcame the odds and finally found his voice.

Celeste Jones, Kristina Jones, Juliana Buhring

Not Without My Sister: The True Story of Three Girls Violated and Betrayed

The bestselling, devastating account of three sisters torn apart, abused and exploited at the hands of a community that robbed them of their childhood. It reveals three lives, separate but entwined, that have experienced unspeakable horror, unrelenting loyalty and unforgettable courage.From as early as three years old, Juliana, Celeste and Kristina were treated as sexual beings by their 'guardians' in the infamous religious cult known as the Children of God. They were made to watch and mimic orgies, received love letters and sexual advances from men old enough to be their grandfather, and were forced into abusive relationships. They were denied access to formal schooling, had to wander the streets begging for money, and were mercilessly beaten for 'crimes' as unpredictable as reading an encyclopaedia.Finally, unable to live with the guilt of what had happened to her children, their mother escaped with Kristina, cutting herself off from her remaining children in a bid to save at least one child. Desperate to save her sisters, Kristina eventually returned to the place of her torture to free Celeste. Years later, Juliana found the courage to escape, knowing that the child she was ...