For readers of Educated and The Glass Castle, a harrowing, redemptive and profoundly inspiring memoir of childhood trauma and its long reach into adulthood, named one of the Best True Crime Books by Marie Claire . Prior to this experience, he'd been bused to a largely white school, where he was bullied and beaten by a group of white students. Always brilliant - good portion sizes, great Covid-safe system in place, lovely staff. Gets busy, but for good reason." 3. Tean Fish Bar Innumerable thrillers and crime novels begin with the disappearance of a young girl. Even if the author allows her to survive and return home, the tale often ends with the justice of a closed police or court case. Of course, we know that in real life the ordeal doesn’t actually end, as the crime continues to impact everyone involved. Debora Harding lives that story and has since a freezing day in 1978 when she was abducted from her church parking lot. The subtitle of DANCING WITH THE OCTOPUS is “A Memoir of a Crime,” but readers soon realize that while the crime is the capstone to the book, the delicate archway it sits atop is a dysfunctional family, building a wall out of decades of PTSD.

Human beings are remarkably resilient and this memoir gives us yet another example of that truth. Reading about the abusive childhood that the author experienced was hard but add to that the account of the kidnapping and assault by a stranger that she endured at the age of 14 and you wonder how she survived. Not only did she survive, she was also able to take her early years and use those experiences to view the world with compassion and strength. A similar post-mortem physical reaction using cut frog legs was discovered by 18th-century scientists. It became the talk of the scientific community after Italian scientist Luigi Galvani placed a frog’s legs on an electrically-charged surface and touched the limbs with his scalpel, causing the frog legs to “dance.”As this is an author who understands this is not a color-blind world, I fail to understand why this is a color-blind book. Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

DANCING WITH THE OCTOPUS is an affecting memoir, to say the least. Harding recounts the horror of her kidnapping and assault, as well as painful episodes from her childhood, with a practiced detachment and still manages an intimate writing style. Her honesty is impressive as she explores her family dynamic, its longstanding effects and how it exacerbated the ordeal she suffered at Goodwin’s hands. The greater terror, threat and betrayal by far is what came from her parents, not the stranger. One person said: "A little gem after a long day at Alton Towers with kids. We actually found it on our first night that we arrived.Another person added: "Nipped in today after a walk around the gardens. Fish and chips for me and a tikka wrap for the wife. Food brilliant, restaurant was very, very busy since it was a Friday in half-term. There’s always a queue, which is a good sign in my opinion and it’s definitely worth the wait. The queue means everything’s always warm and fresh." 7. Penkhull Fish Bar

Criminals often justify their behavior by claiming they are uniquely abused by society. Goodwin was not uniquely abused, but has proved himself to be uniquely violent. I therefore made the decision to let his rage - which he explained as originating in the trauma of racist violence - emerge in the story as he told it." One person said: "Amazing vegan food - what a lovely surprise. Staying near by and Tripadvisor recommended. Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.All of which makes his reluctance to believe her memories of her mother’s behaviour another painful betrayal. “I honestly still have a problem imagining it was as bad as you are saying. I’m not denying it, I’m just saying I never saw it,” he tells her. This highly recommended work of nonfiction is a gripping account of faith, family, survival and the power of self.

My mum's coeliac and she can enjoy the local chippy now because of the gluten free menu. Thank you so so much - a special gem in Stoke-on-Trent." 2. The Goldfish Bowl On a November afternoon at the start of a long weekend, as an ice storm began to settle on Omaha, Harding was a 14-year-old girl walking from school to choir practice at church. It was picture day, and she was dressed in a carefully selected outfit, her hair feathered just so. Charles Goodwin, a teenager in a ski mask with fantasies of ransom money, forced her by knifepoint into the stolen van he was driving. Harding remained remarkably calm as he made her call her father with demands for cash. She talked to him about God as he drove her away from town. After he raped her and left her for dead in the middle of the storm, she found help and gave the police as much information as she could, which helped lead to his eventual conviction. When in jail following the car theft charge, he was beaten so badly his jaw was broken and his teeth were loose in his mouth, and sexually assaulted, both for racist motivations. Vegan stuff took 10 mins to cook and I'm glad it did as got to chat to the lovely owners. Highly recommended." This book, for me, is an interrogation of violence and mental illness. More specifically, how we reconcile ourselves to the complexity of relationship issues that follow acts of human cruelty.”

4. Shaws Fish and Chips

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in. Dexterously shifting between the past and present, Debora Harding untangles the incident of her kidnapping and escape from unexpected angles, offering a vivid, intimate portrait of one family’s disintegration in the 1970s Midwest. But before I move on, I must note the early choice I made as an author to not differentiate the humanity of Charles Goodwin and myself by race. This was not a simple decision, as we live in a grossly racist society that is not color-blind, and I do not feel it right to deny him the oppression that shaped his external world. Yet to suggest the kind of devastating pain Goodwin inflicted is the fault of society is to err grossly. It's been described by Tripadvisor users as 'gourmet standard' - with many saying they are frequent visitors for their Friday night chippy tea.