I am so excited it is paperback unboxing day! This book was my PhD thesis and I poured my heart and soul into it.
I am forever grateful to the men who trusted me with their life stories. I told them I would do everything to make their words count and create change. I hope they can see I have never relented on that mission.
I have written a new preface to the 2026 edition which outlines the ripples of policy change it has sparked. It has been cited heavily in the recent UK Domestic Commissioner report, inspiring recommendations about recognizing the links between childhood domestic violence and serious violence. The DAC have used it in several UK Parliament submissions. The 2025 EVAW report used it for a similar recommendation. It has been cited by the Children’s Ombudsman in Sweden and I spoke in Swedish Parliament about it last year. It even made front page news in Sweden(!) and newspapers in the UK and Spain. It has been used in a Domestic Homicide Review for a male victim, and was cited in the recent PREVENT review. I have spoken to thousands of professionals about it across Europe.
This follows the original 2022 preface where I explain that it was mine and my sibling’s experiences of childhood domestic violence which lays in the roots of this work. The amazing Professor Marianne Hester also wrote a preface to the original.
I hope it is a testament to the power of qualitative and creative research, showing that is the stories behind the statistics that truly matter if we want to understand the reality of growing up with violent childhoods. It is about creating radical empathy, which the world needs more than ever.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey.
Let’s keep momentum.
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