They appear to have been well looked after and the family has never come to the attention of the social services before. Each book I’ve read has left me with the lingering reminder that the primary issue addressed is incredibly widespread. Every time a Cathy Glass book comes out I know I need to set aside some time because I cannot put these books down once I start. I suspect there are issues of consent, which is why she publishes under a pseudonym and changes the names of her charges and their families, but she provides lots of very specific details about the family, regardless.

The epilogue seemed to warn parents, teachers, caregivers, and foster parents that a false allegation may be made against them. Even more worrying, she will be brought to Cathy with a police escort as it’s vital her extended family don’t know where she is. Way too much detail and the whole time you’re wanting to get to the end to find out the truth but mainly just to get it over with. a lot of people complained about the covid references- personally i didn’t mind them and i found that they were relevant to the setting. I hope that readers can accept this saddening story for what it is and acknowledge that when false allegations are made it can be devastating to the family.

But since I already had the book I thought I’d give it a shot, and to my surprise it was readable, realistic and interesting. Sometimes you need to look through her matter of fact sentences to find emotional meaning and inferences, e. The discussion Q's seemed slightly insensitive, as of course children's allegations should be taken serious. And the book’s description of the “ripple effect” of a child’s removal from his own home, however bad, shows it to be enormous, however good the foster home. This book in particular was hard to read due to the subject matter, and the intense distress it clearly caused to all family members involved.

It's hard to give a Cathy glass book anything but 5 stars but as other reviews have said this book feels different then her other ones. Despite mentioning that she does not / would not judge families, there were references to her "being right" about quite sensitive topics. This was the story of two little girls who’s elder sister had made allegations against their father (the older sister’s stepfather) ending in them being removed to Cathy’s care.Large references to Covid/restrictions which in parts took over the story of the sisters etc however it didn't ruin the story for me. i just hope the family are able to get their life back on track and move forward with help and support. If Cathy were not as good at her job as she is i dread to think how this story could have turned out. However, as the girls settle and start to talk of life at home, it becomes clear that Ashleigh didn’t enjoy the same close relationship with her stepfather. They didn’t have evidence to support the claim and I think they could have gotten there way earlier.