LoveReading Says
An inspiring tale of a woman who grew up as an outsider in her own family. Born black to a white mother, Rosie Child's colour was proof of her mother's infidelity. Beaten by her mother's husband and neglected by her alcoholic mother, Rosie Childs endured one trial after another. Catch Me Before I Fall documents her rocky journey from this unorthodox childhood and many spells in psychiatric institutions as an adult, to a more positive life. It's a moving story of one woman's will to survive and ability to hold hope for the future despite adverse circumstances.
Rosie is donating money made from this book to a special project with Crisis, a charity which helps rebuild the lives of homeless people.
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Catch Me Before I Fall Synopsis
When Rosie Childs was born, as Clare Malone, her life was immediately different to those around her – she was a black child in an all-white family and on an all-white Liverpool council estate in the 1950s, and therefore living proof of her mother’s infidelity. Ignored and beaten by her mother’s husband, neglected and left to steal bread and milk to feed the younger children, Clare struggled to live a normal childhood. Even when she and her brothers and sisters were taken into care and eventually fostered, she was treated like a troublemaker and shunned for the colour of her skin.
As Clare grew up, she tried to forget her past and flourished as a nanny, but she continued to be unsettled, which led to a breakdown and spells in a series of dehumanising psychiatric institutions. Through anorexia, physical abuse, alcoholism and homelessness in London, where she discovered the charity Crisis, Clare plumbed the depths of despair before eventually, with support, unlocking deeply buried and shocking secrets and feelings from her childhood, allowing her to begin to live again.
Over the course of her life, Clare often tried to reinvent herself, each time changing her name for a new beginning. Now, as Rosie Childs, she is a confident and positive survivor who has defied the odds to create her own destiny. Her tale of abuse, racism and of being a true outsider is also one of redemption, as Rosie at last finds peace with herself and the colour of her skin.
About This Edition
About Rosie Childs with Diane Taylor
Rosie Childs was born in the Page Moss area of Liverpool in the 1950s and spent time in a children’s home, with foster parents and in a series of psychiatric institutions after a breakdown. Today, she has come to terms with her childhood and is confident, positive and truly happy.
Diane Taylor is a journalist who writes for the Guardian, Observer and Independent and edits a magazine for HIV charity Mainliners.
More About Rosie Childs with Diane Taylor
