Clutching her eight-week-old sister in her arms, Frances Reilly was abandoned by her mother outside the gates of The Poor Sisters of Nazareth Convent. It was 1956 and Frances was 2 years old. Little did the toddler know, as her mother's car disappeared into the cold Christmas morning, that this was to be the beginning of a terrible new life. For the next 13 years Frances experienced institutionalised cruelty. Beaten, raped and molested, Frances suffered horrifically under the care of her new guardians. The nuns stripped her of everything - her best friend, her innocence, even her name - but they could not suppress her spirit and her never-ending hope of a better life. Written with great honesty and integrity, this true and moving account of childhood suffering is a tragic yet inspiring story. Through it all - the physical, sexual and emotional abuse - Frances refused to be broken.

Her resolution to survive the tortures of her every-day life, and defy the evil that stole her childhood, makes her emotive memoir an inspiration to all and an uplifting read.