Dimensions
129 x 198 x 21mm
Abandoned tells the heartbreaking story of a little girl's abusive childhood and her subsequent homelessness as an adult.
Born illegitimately to Irish lovers, Anya was given away by her real mother and brought up in England by her loving aunt. However, her childhood with her new family was far from happy – verbally and sexually abused for years, Anya finally cracked and shopped her violent uncle, resulting in his imprisonment.
After his imprisonment and a few months before her twelfth birthday, Anya lost her whole family overnight. They didn't die, although they might as well have done; they just went away, abandoning her. There was no one else to care, so Anya pretended that she didn't either. She learnt to shut down, and not to let anybody in.
She thought that she had worked through it all, overcome it. But then, several years later, through a series of unrelated problems, her life imploded again. Several things ended together: a job, a relationship, money, luck – and she ended up homeless and living in her car in a laneway at the edge of the woods.