This was an okay read for me, I liked the dual timeline and how the stories came together in the end, the haunted house aspect and the writing style was good. What I missed was the suspense, I think you could have made the house so much creepier if that had been more majorly a focus, it was very much just a side storyline in this. The past timeline remained very surface-level, I didn't love the letters and I don't think you really got to know the characters there.

In the end, I loved this, which says a lot, because I hated it most of the time I was reading it. This book is about social workers and their role at protecting children. I rated it 5 stars because it has been a very long time since I've read a book that really engrossed me, moved me, and ate at my soul like this one did. I just had to keep reading to find out what happened next.A 4.8 for this? When I first read the tile and blurb of this book, my first thought... "Oh damn, here comes another sad story." And boy was I right. The last trimester, however, was not as great to me. The pacing slowed to a snails pace and I felt that some of the chapters were telling me the same thing over and over with nothing happening. The ending was the real bummer and I felt like it was rushed - as the ending didn't start until the last chapter or so of the book. Which would have been fine if I felt satisfied with it but unfortunately it just kind of fizzled out. Every now and then television exerts its power to help bring about important reforms. Peter Kosminsky’s drama documentary, No Child of Mine, is a classic candidate. The subject matter is child sexual abuse.

A very, very long time ago I did a two year stint of answering phones for the Samaritans. At that time all places were locally funded, staffed and run. The ethic of how to deal with people was set-in-stone. It made no difference if the person calling was 5 or 90 they were treated the same. As disturbing evidence mounts and Alex’s superiors seem unwilling to help, Alex knows she will have to risk everything—her job and the life she loves—to save Ottilie. But Alex will also have to wrestle the demons of her own past before she can secure a future for this child in need. Alex trusts her instincts, and she follows up a phone call about Ottilie Wade and senses that all is not well with the child. The mother is very strange and the father is domineering and seemingly holding down a very respectable job as a deputy head at a local school. The more Alex knows of him the more she suspects. She soon is keeping a close eye on Ottilie, but things move slowly and social workers have to play by the book. No Child of Mine is hauntingly powerful, equal parts a ghost story and a tale of what we are prepared to do for love.” — USA Today bestselling author Darcy Coates

The teleplay by Selma Thompson, based on a true story, includes cliched lines like `The lord doesn't give us more than we can handle' and `We did the best we could. I guess that wasn't good enough', but also an hilarious scene where Lucille and Tammy go on a tabloid television show. The Young's house being referred to as an `institution' seems odd since it is more like a hippie live-in play centre. Thompson's decision to demonise Lucille as a grandmother is an interesting choice, in lieu of painting Tammy as weak for not being able to provide for Jesse, and when Lucille is more considerate but Tammy is unable to forgive her. I really love Susan Lewis books, they really get to the heart of a story very fast, you get drawn in from the very first chapter. This story really laid out the emotional turmoil of Alex/Charlotte's life. The ending surprised me.

honey, now hear me out, what if, we took our underaged daughter, and sold her for money, you know sexually? We'll make the Johns wear a condom…Essie is hugely independent and stubborn when it comes to how she has planned out her days. She will become a lawyer and be successful in her career. She had to wait while her husband, Sanjay, took steps toward an architecture degree first. So when she learns of her unplanned pregnancy while finally able to step her feet into a classroom, it does not come lighthearted. She’s far behind and feels that she deserves to focus on herself. Her entire life will change and she isn’t sure if she wants that. But in the end, she loves the life she is creating. When she must endure a terrible pregnancy full of pain and isolation, she becomes cognizant of forces that can irrevocably transform her life into one without love. Without Sanjay. A made-for-TV movie about child abuse, and I figured, since it's made for television, how bad can it be? Turns out, pretty bad. It's not gratuitous in its depiction of (sexual) violence but it doesn't need to be to get its message across, this hits hard regardless. For me, there were times, when it felt a little too disjointed. By this I mean, the transition between the two sometimes seemed jarring; like it wasn't as fluid as I would hope. The characterisation was excellent throughout, and I felt the presentation of the care system was raw and realistic - rather than the 2 dimensional conveyance of problematic teens or sad children, Alex's caseload seemed accurately widespread and challenging. Ottilie's story was really difficult to read - I wanted to bundle her up and bring her home, as I felt physically ill to read some of the things her father said to her and her mother thought. Working with some vulnerable children as a teacher, this is a feeling I know well and was replicated fairly accurately. I very much enjoyed this book. The child abuse was difficult to read about, but in a very real world, it does happen. I thought the author did an excellent job explaining it without going into graphic detail.