Abandoned: The True Story of a Little Girl Who Didn't Belong

This was a sad book but a happy ending.Found the book hard to put down.Really liked the book.Something that could happen to anyone.

It took me a little time to get into Anya's memoir but after I read so far into it I was hooked. After reading about her horrible childhood and then her time as a homeless person I would have liked more detail as to where she ended up and exactly how she ended up there. I beleive she will be writing a sequal to this memoir due to the abrupt ending in this book. Overall it was a very good book and definantly pulls on the heart strings.

Great book! Shows how creative & resilient one can get when backed against a wall! I was reading her blog as her life in the laneway was unfolding, (WanderingScribe.[...]) before she wrote the book. The book fills in all the gaps, and Anya's writing style is so picturesque you are right there with her! Be prepared to have a good long read because u will not want to put it down to go eat or work or even sleep!

My heart went out to this little girl and then woman. No one should have to experience what she did. I can't imagine the feeling of not belonging anywhere. This book is a real page-turner aand it also is very uplifting. definately worth the read.

This is a very, very sad story. No human being should have to live their life like this girl/woman. The book is in two parts: the first part is her life growing up, having been "abandoned" by her real mother because she was pregnant out of wedlock and to a married man. She was given to her mother's sister, whom she refers to as "Mummy". The man who lived with her, her uncle, constantly told her she was not wanted in the house, no one wants her, her mother is a "whore". Her uncle ended up sexally abusing her from the age of six. The second part of the book is her life as an adult. With no money, no family who loved her, basically no one to turn to for help, she ended up living in her car for 18 months. Frightened, constantly hungry, longing for a shower to clean herself, she had too much pride to ask for help. She would often visit homeless shelters, but then ran away when it looked like they were about to help her. She thought she wasn't "good enough" for someone to help her, that there were other people worse off than her that needed help. This is such a sad story - all Anya wanted was for someone to hold her as tell her she belongs. She never felt like she belonged anywhere. The fact that she had such a troubled childhood, made her into the person she is today. In her own words, she "is very lucky".