Many years later when I asked how she felt when the doll was accidentally smashed she replied "I could have killed you". She meant it. Six decades on she still had not forgiven me. Karen Laura-Lee Wilson's memoir is a detailed and gut-wrenching account of her first twenty-five years growing up in a sole-parent family with a narcissistic mother. Embedded in her story are universal themes of abandonment, love, hate, determination, optimism and endurance. Importantly, she also highlights the disastrous consequences divorce and abuse can have on children. Mostly set in Brisbane, Australia during the 1950s and 1960s, her journey is a search for identity. Karen entices her readers to accompany her on this gritty journey through years of hunger, poverty, self-doubt and deprivation of mother-love. Eventually Karen finds her own path through education, positive and negative sexual relationships and travel. This well-written memoir is told with great candour and gentle humour, and is a must-have not just for readers of memoir, but also for those who enjoy adventure, romance and happy outcomes.