Andrew Crofts Books

Taban overcame extreme poverty, racism and xenophobia to become the man he is today. Heart-warming and inspiring, his life story is one of survival against all odds.

Joe knew his mother was cruel and violent, but he trusted his beloved father to protect him from her. When a freak accident saw his father burn to death in front of him, Joe was left at the mercy of his mother. Without the love of his friend and brother, he wouldn't have survived. With them, he went on to spend his life fighting child abuse.

A man wrongly imprisoned in a foreign country for drug smuggling and the girlfriend who led the fight to free him tell this extraordinary account of prison horror and endurance, laced with romance and adventure. John Packwood and Jane Amestoy alternate chapters as they recount John's Spanish imprisonment and extradition to Morocco, as Jane's case eventually catches the attention of politicians, human rights campaigners, and celebrities such as George Clooney, Hugh Grant, Joseph Fiennes, Damien Hirst, and Annie Lennox. With the combined efforts of Jane's hard work and the snowballing power behind them, John was eventually freed after 13 uncertain months in an unforgiving foreign system. 

Zana Muhsen, born and bred in Birmingham, is of Yemeni origin. When her father told her she was to spend a holiday with relatives in North Yemen, she jumped at the chance. Aged 15 and 13 respectively, Zana and her sister discovered that they had been literally sold into marriage, and that on their arrival they were virtually prisoners. They had to adapt to a completely alien way of life, with no running water, dung-plastered walls, frequent beatings, and the ordeal of childbirth on bare floors with only old women in attendance. After eight years of misery and humiliation Zana succeeded in escaping, but her sister is still there, and it seems likely that she will now never leave the country where she has spent more than half her life. This is an updated edition of Zana's account of her experiences.

"I crept out the house. I would never live in fear of mum and her friends again. The shameful things they made me do, the the terrible things they did. At last I was free."The heart-breaking true story of an abused little boy who grew up into a remarkable man.Little Joe was only five when he was first beaten by his mother and brutally raped by her boyfriend, and only nine when they sold him to a paedophile ring. For years he was beaten, raped, photographed and abused, fed only on meagre scraps that he had to lick off the cellar floor.Then, when he was 16, Joe finally found the courage to escape. Joe ran away to London to start a new life but his nightmare was far from over. Penniless, friendless and utterly desperate, Joe was drawn into the dark world of crime. He was bent on self-destruction until the love of a good woman finally set him free...

For the first few years of her life, Sarah Harris was a normal, happy, popular little girl. But from the age of six she was targeted by a vicious, manipulative but invisible enemy — and her life became a living hell.Before long she was suspended from school, alienated from her friends, completely bewildered and utterly terrified. Her happy childhood had been destroyed forever.For her mother, Lyndsey, it was a life beyond her worst nightmares.Her little girl, the daughter she loved so much, seemed to have transformed overnight — into a child she hardly recognized. A child she almost feared. Suddenly, Lyndsey was fighting to keep her family together — and to save her daughter’s sanity.But then the horrific truth started to become clear. And both Lyndsey and Sarah discovered they had been the innocent victims of the most horrifying betrayal imaginable…

The shocking story of a young girl forced into prostitution by her own father, and her painful journey to escape her horrific childhood and build a new life for herself and her sons. Maria's dad was a pimp, living in a world of thieves and street-walkers. Her mother, tiring of turning tricks for her husband, walked out, leaving the children in his chaotic, violent and sometimes cruel care. By the age of nine, Maria's father was abusing her and getting a prostitute friend to dress her up in stockings and make-up. By the time she was fourteen he was selling her on the streets of the red light district in Norwich. Despite everything Maria still loved her swaggering and sometimes charming father and found it hard to sort out her own feelings. At fifteen she ran away to King's Cross with an older lover who turned out to be just another pimp. Furious at losing a nice little earner her father involved the police and both he and the other man were jailed for living off Maria's immoral earnings. Only then could Maria escape her traumatic childhood and follow her dream of becoming a mother.

The shocking true story of a young boy hidden away from his family and the world in a Catholic home for unmarried mothers in 1950s Dublin. Born an "unfortunate" onto the rough streets of 1950s Dublin, this is the incredible true story of a young boy, a secret child born into a home for unmarried mothers in 1950s Dublin and a mother determined to keep her child, even if it meant hiding him from her own family and the rest of the world. Despite the poverty, hardship and isolation, the pride and hope of a community of women who banded together to raise their children would give this boy his chance to find his real family. A wonderfully heartwarming and evocative tale of working class life in 1950s Dublin and 1960s London.

Nel piccolo villaggio pakistano, frotte di bambini giocano a rincorrersi, spensierati come è giusto che siano i bambini. Iqbal li vede dal finestrino del furgone che lo sta riportando a casa, al tramonto. Un tempo quei giochi erano anche i suoi, prima che la sua famiglia lo cedesse a un fabbricante di tappeti per saldare un debito di dodici dollari contratto dal fratello maggiore per sposarsi. Sono trascorsi sei anni da quel giorno e da allora è uno schiavo, costretto a trascorrere le giornate in una stanza afosa, incatenato a un telaio senza staccare gli occhi dal lavoro, sottomesso a padroni violenti e senza scrupoli. Insieme a tanti bambini come lui. Ma Iqbal è diverso, in lui c'è una scintilla che niente riesce a spegnere. Ha solo dieci anni ma la sua mente è attenta e vigile, il suo senso di giustizia innato.Così, dopo un tentativo fallito e pagato a caro prezzo, riesce finalmente a fuggire. Ha un solo obiettivo in testa, un sogno: far sapere al mondo cosa succede in Pakistan, liberare tutti i bambini dalla schiavitù. E ridare loro quell’infanzia che hanno provato a rubargli.Una storia intensa, commovente, impossibile da dimenticare.

La storia di Zana e Nadia Muhsen, di madre inglese e padre yemenita, portata in viaggio di piacere nello Yemen e lì vendute come mogli, era stata oggetto di un libro, Vendute!, che aveva sconvolto i lettori e le lettrici occidentali. Ti salverò! è per certi versi ancora più lacerante, perchè Zana vi descrive la speranza continuamente delusa di liberare dalla schiavitù la sorella, rimasta nello Yemen. Dall'88, data della sua fuga in Europa, la disperata battaglia dell'autrice non ha portato a nulla: nè il governo inglese, nè quello yemenita, nè le organizzazioni umanitarie hanno potuto aiutarla. A ogni incontro tra le due sorelle, Zana ha rivisto Nadia più invecchiata, spaventata, spenta. Eppure non ha perso la speranza. E ce lo racconta in un libro drammatico e commovente che non mancherà di catturare i sentimenti dei lettori.

Une femme ayant épousé un Irakien a connu la guerre et ses conséquences pour les civils de ce pays

Norman Dorset je muž nepokojné povahy, který se najednou ocitl v konfliktu se zákonem. Když se po sedmi letech vrátil z vězení, podařilo se mu brzy vyhoupnout se opět na výsluní. Spokojeně si užívá pohodlného života, dokud se po něm nezačne shánět policie. Právě v tu chvíli potká po letech svého bratra Lena, který se mezitím stal šéfem exkluzivní agentury, zabývající se ostrahou a zajišťováním limuzín pro luxusní klientelu. Len právě zoufale shání personál, který bude chránit členy arabské královské rodiny, jedné z nejbohatších na světě. Podaří se mu přesvědčit Normana, aby se úkolu ujal. A tak se Norman seznámí s líbeznou princeznou Džarmínou, netrvá dlouho a pojí ho s ní křehké citové pouto...

Mladičká Gina si nepřála nic víc než finančně podporovat své chudé rodiče a tím je odškodnit za problémy, které působila celé rodině jako nezvladatelné dítě. S tímto cílem se vydá z filipínských hor pracovat do barů v Manile. Postupně se seznamuje s bohatými muži a za jednoho, který ji oslnil, se provdá. Je ochotna s ním jít třeba na kraj světa. Rodina se usadí v nehostinných, pro Ginu úplně cizích končinách severní Anglie. Ještě nedávno krásný a vášnivý vztah se tu změnil v nekonečné utrpení. Gina i s malým synkem je zcela vydána napospas surovému manželovi, který je oba nelítostně tyranizuje. Ginin osud je příběhem o lásce, zklamání, utrpení, o přežití a naději

Autobiografický román líčí osudy Donyi Al-Nahi, která se snaží zachránit děti. Donya nikdy nezažila lásku od matky, a proto se cítila dobře ve velkých muslimských rodinách. Po několika známostech s muslimskými muži, z nichž jeden byl otcem jejího syna, uprchla s dítětem zpět do Londýna. Její život se změní po setkání s Mary, anglickou muslimkou, jejíž manžel unesl dceru. Donya, matka čtyř dětí, se rozhodne Mary pomoci. I přes rizika se vydává na Blízký východ, aby dívku přivezla zpět do Anglie. Zjistí však, že Mary není jedinou ženou, která byla o dítě připravena. Muslimští muži často berou cizinky, ale když děti vyrostou v západním světě, obávají se jejich volnosti a snaží se je odvézt na Východ. Angličanky, které ztratily děti, nemají šanci je získat zpět právně. Donya věří, že děti potřebují právo žít se svými matkami v nejformativnějším období života. Pomáhat matkám a dětem se znovu spojit je pro ni ctí, i když to znamená porušovat mezinárodní zákony. Nakonec je Donya prozrazena a uniká dlouhému uvěznění díky známým a podpoře médií. Po návratu do Londýna nemůže pokračovat v misích, ale radí matkám, jak se vyhnout kritickým situacím a snaží se zprostředkovat kontakt s unesenými dětmi.