As a young woman, Pauline Zimmerman embarked on a journey to make sense of a childhood dominated by a cruel,controlling father, clouded by parental conflict and haunted, for her and her four siblings, by physical, mental, sexual and emotional abuse which went unacknowledged and unchallenged for years. Understanding how abuse within the family happens and why, and how to help sufferers deal with it, has been her life's work; she became a respected specialist in adult psychiatric and mental health nursing. If you want to understand domestic abuse, this book is for you.