Book Assignment: Mummy Knew

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Child abuse is a serious crime. Children are innocent beings meant to be protected and nurtured, but unfortunately, some adults take advantage of this innocence to abuse children and inflict lifelong damage on them. While many survivors of child abuse have spoken out about their experiences, many children continue to suffer in silence due to threats by their abusers or ignorance of what is happening to them. Lisa James details the horrific experiences she went through as a child, abused by her stepfather while her mother stood by and did nothing. Child abuse is wrong in any situation, but it is especially heartbreaking when parents and guardians trusted to take care of their children, neglect and abuse them. Mothers and fathers are supposed to protect their children from harm, but what happens when these are the same people who terrorize and destroy their children’s innocence?

Lisa was abused by her stepfather from the time she was four years old. He started out forcing her to massage his feet, but soon the abuse turned sexual in nature. The abuse went on regularly for twelve years until she was sixteen. All the while, Lisa kept asking her mother to make him stop, but her mother remained silent on the issue. Matters came to a head when Lisa’s mother sent Lisa to share a bedroom with her stepfather while she, the mother, slept in Lisa’s room. Months later, Lisa and her stepfather moved into an apartment on their own. Lisa kept pleading with her mother to help her, but she would hear none of it. Lisa felt trapped and utterly alone, abandoned by her sisters, her mother, and her whole family. In the new apartment, Lisa eventually hatched a plan to escape though no one would believe her story. Everyone wanted to protect Lisa’s mother and wanted Lisa to remain quiet. Fortunately. Lisa got away and later pressed charges against her stepfather, who eventually went to jail.

‘Mummy Knew’ is a gut-wrenching read that kept me turning the pages despite the horrors within it. The author of the book is courageous for speaking out about her traumatic childhood and the people who contributed to it through their silence. In school, no one noticed Lisa’s abuse, and only one friend believed her story because she too had been abused. While reading the book, I felt an intense disappointment and sadness for Lisa’s experiences. I was disappointed in and angry with Lisa’s mother, her siblings as well as her aunts and grandmother. None of these adults protected the child, even when they knew what was going on. Lisa’s mother is to blame for everything that happened to her daughter. I could not fathom the idea that a mother would willingly give her four-year-old daughter to her stepfather and ignore the abuse going on.

I shed tears reading the book for Lisa and what she must have felt when the whole world abandoned her. She was an innocent child who did not understand what was happening, and she turned to her mother for help. Unfortunately, no one listened to her. She must have felt so alone, and it is a miracle she survived to adulthood. I also admire Lisa’s resilience in pressing charges against her abuser despite the rest of her family refusing to support her. She sought justice for herself and wrote her book to encourage other survivors of child abuse. Lisa’s story is not unique; so many other children suffer abuse in the adults trusted to care for them. Every individual must be vigilant to observe the signs of abuse in children and alert the relevant authorities to investigate the situation. The law should also be stricter on child abuse offenders and hand them harsher punishment than the few years given to Lisa’s father.

References

James, L. (2013). Mummy Knew: A terrifying stepfather. A mother who refused to listen. A little girl desperate to escape.