I decided that I would like to have a go at playing Kerry,” Brooke Kinsella says. “One of the main reasons for my decision was that the film might help other children in situations like hers. If it helped just one, it would have been worthwhile.”

Told between different POVS and timelines, this story is perfect for women who have gone through pregnancy, and those who like spooky reads and fast-paced stories. Wow! I hadn’t heard anything about this book but it he title and cover daughter my eye! I can not wait to read more by this author!This story really laid out the emotional turmoil of Alex/Charlotte's life. The ending surprised me. The last half of this book was incredible. It was so emotional, so descriptive and had great character development. This is a story about child abuse (I was going to say "of the worst kind" but is there any better kind?) there are some pretty graphic details and the language is rough (a lot of swearing). But to be honest, that's what makes this so real. If she had left all that out it would have been just a pretty cover-up of what had happened. I was hoping for details, expecting them, and I got them.

This is one of the most difficult books, I have ever read, it is heartbroken. I loved the main character, Alex Lake. She is a social worker, works with Child Protection, she is a hard worker and she will do everything to protect the children in her caseload. This is a hard watch! The grittiness of the piece and the true to life performances are great but the story overall is just hard to watch, not in a bad way... you just feel for the main character all the way as we see the stuff she goes through and you can see the despair as it grows inside her...Alex Wade is a social worker and dedicated to her job. When she first sees little Ottilie Wade, she immediately register both concern for the child and a strange attraction. I had guessed what was going to happen at the end (I will not give it away). Just because it was predictable to me did not take away from the story. The narration is also hideously unsympathetic towards all of the characters in need. Describing the vulnerable children in care as preyed upon until they become feral. Remarking that children from "the rough estate" should go to school or get a job to better their lives. Urm what now?! So, as a parent, how do you go about asking your spouse to do something like this. Like how does that conversation go. It's best not to watch this piece of trash, but for masochists and fans of misinformation one can do much worse. No, actually not... Worse? Not really.

She wants to be happy. She loves the little being growing inside her, she really does, but that love is being shadowed by a lot of other darker emotions right now. For a Gothic horror, it is light on the elements of the sub-genre. In a lot of ways it felt more like a possessed house, or character possession horror, more than Gothic. The sense of romance between the characters was stronger than any sense of horror. The book felt confused to me. The house did not feel menacing enough. The supernatural/paranormal element was barely noticeable for most of the story. There is macabre imagery, but in dreams only, and the dreams felt very repetitive. I'm not sure about the purpose of the dreams being repetitive and extending that device for so long in the book. I don't think it helped the story move along at all. There is a sense of isolation and madness, but not all for the protagonist, and the isolation didn't drive the Gothic feel in the story. I'm left wondering how to categorise the story. OK. It was a TV movie made in UK. Do not expect Hollywood fancy... but they didn't have an editor, a music composer, a screenplay writer??? Don't you know it's necessary to have people for those duties to make a movie??? It is sad how this interesting subject "child abuse" was wasted in this production. Editing and many other things were a disaster! OK. Probably low budget but what about the script? Don't make me talk about the script.

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I was nodding along in many parts, even yelling words of support for her. The only issue I had with this story really, and it's a minor one, was the connection between the historic perspective and Essie's present perspective. A newly wed couple buys a fixer up and happily plans a future for themselves and their potential careers. A surprise pregnancy, has Essie struggling to come to terms with all she has to give up by being pregnant. She is also reminded of their families curse by her grandmother, as every previous generation has lost the love of their life. The stuff that she goes through like the physical and sexual abuse from a majority of the adults around her to the zero… There are a couple of good points anyway. I think one of the good points of this movie is that shows you a little and let your mind figure out the rest. And sometimes imagination is even more disturbing than the thing itself. The other good point is Brooke's performance. Better than some Hollywood kids of today. She was very convincing. As the Reader, we sit inside Essie's head as she struggles with these emotions, her changing body, her changing relationship and her ever changing reality.