I Belong To No One

Rape, teen pregnancy, illegitimacy, domestic abuse - in the 1970s all were shameful secrets that trapped women in poverty, loss and ongoing emotional trauma. This is one woman's story of all she lost and how hard she fought to survive. A teenager in the 1970s, Gwen Wilson had a tough childhood. Illegitimate, fatherless, her mother in and out of psychiatric hospitals; it would have been easy for anyone to despair and give up. Yet Gwen had hope. Despite it all, she was a good student, fighting hard for a scholarship and a brighter future. Then she met Colin. Someone to love who would love her back. But that short-lived love wasn't the sanctuary Gwen was looking for. It was the start of a living hell. Rape was just the beginning. By sixteen she was pregnant, her ongoing education abandoned. Society did not tolerate single mothers; prejudice and discrimination followed her everywhere. In an effort to save her son, Jason, from the illegitimacy and deprivation she'd grown up with, Gwen chose to marry Colin - and too quickly the nightmare of physical abuse, poverty and homelessness seemed inescapable. I belong to no one is a story of desperate lows, the fight for survival and how it led to one woman's eventual triumph over adversity. *This book may have minor shelfwear.