Seventy Thousand Camels

Seventy Thousand Camels is a very moving and inspiring memoir from Angelica A. Brewer.

Angelica was born in Rome in 1965. Unfortunately her home life was unpleasant, her childhood was harsh and lonely. She was not only abused by her mother she was also abused by so-called family friends. She was able to use her time spent at school as a refuge from the horrors of her home life.

Her mother was, sadly, a classic narcissist and, at the age of 16 Angelica realised that she could take no more of her abuse and ran away from the new home the family had in Australia.

Angelica lived for a time on the streets and in a youth refuge. She found love. But she realised later that her loving encounter was not real love after all and that she lost a good deal more than she had gained.

She then married Rhys, but this marriage proved to be troubled and more than a little stormy. She realises now (hindsight is a wonderful thing) that the marriage lasted far too long. But it did produce three children, including a boy who "lives with autism."

Divorced and still more than a little bit lost (but now with three children) Angelica decided that she would seek for love using the medium of Internet dating sites. These often proved to be less than fulfilling, chipping away at even more of her psyche.

However, a career move brought some peace and purpose into her life when she started working as a Juvenile Justice Officer working with and supporting young detainees who were aged 10 to 21.

After this she decided to move over to working with adult offenders, moving from one Australian state to another in the process.

Once there is met and fell for "Brew" who was a fellow correction officer. His love was genuine and true, and her gave her his full support, but her life continued on a spiral of depression and suicidal thinking.

Eventually, Angelica was able to recover and she has taken the opportunity to take stock of her life and share with her readers what she has learned so far.

It is a moving account of what happens to children born to parents who are, in reality, too damaged to be able to care for themselves, let alone look after children.

But it's also a fantastically motivational memoir that shows how, with love and support, even those who have been damaged can find peace, love and happiness and a real, genuine family.

You'll find sniffles, tears and some laughter in this book.

It will be a fine Christmas gift for the person you know who can benefit from the emotional support they'll find in this book. It should also be given to medical professionals who work with the children of abusive or uncaring parents as it will help them see the damages that can be done to such children. And it may give them some vital clues as to how they can be better prepared to help such children.

It's published by Matador at £19.99.