Daddy's Girl [Paperback]

Charlotte Vale Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 2002

Emancipated long before anybody had heard of it, she escaped her family to save [her] life. The life that is recounted in Daddy's Girl is harrowing, yet the memoir is distinguished by Allen's heroic efforts to rescue and support herself, by herself. This memoir emphasizes - in addition to a commitment not to live life as a "walking wound" - the power of language.

Allen has always believed in the potency of words; she began writing as a child, and used notes to communicate with women she admired. She began writing fiction in order to get Daddy's Girl published, which supports the idea (central to confessional writers), that the self may be transformed by the self-in-writing.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Island Nation Pr (January 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892738341
• ISBN-13: 978-1892738349
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,298,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charlotte Vale-Allen was born in Toronto and lived in England from 1961 to 1964 where she worked as a television actress and singer. She returned to Toronto briefly, performing as a singer until she emigrated to the US in 1966. She sold her first novel Love Life in 1974. Prior to this book's publication she contracted to do a series of paperback originals, with the result that in 1976 three of her books appeared in print. Her autobiography, the acclaimed Daddy's Girl, was actually the first book she wrote but it wasn't until 1980, after she'd gained success as a novelist, that the groundbreaking book was finally published. One of Canada's most successful novelists, with over seven million copies sold of her 39 books, Ms. Allen's work has been published in all English-speaking countries, in Braille, and have been translated into more than 20 languages. The mother of an adult daughter and grandmother of twins, since 1970 she has made her home in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grasps the pain and struggle of sexual abuse, November 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Daddy's Girl (Paperback)

This is the best book I have ever read that captured the struggle that a women had to go through from her childhood into her married years. It not only shows her reaction to the abuse but, it shows how family and friends reacted to knowing the secret she kept for so many years. I recommend this book for anyone who has suffered sexual abuse, their partners, friends, family members and for anyone else who would like to gain knowledge on the subject.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing through her eyes, August 26, 2001

By 

Slade Simon "slade37" (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daddy's Girl (Paperback)

I got this because I wanted to understand the people I know who went throught this. This is the real story of a woman who went through hell. She describes what her father put her through and how it affected her adult years. She shares the emotions she went through during the abuse. ...how dirty she felt. ...and how this affected relationships as an adult. This is something everyone should read. This isn't simply a psychology book discussing how abuse affects people. This is one person's detailed example of what the abuse does to someone.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, June 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Daddy's Girl (Paperback)

Of all the books written on the subject of child abuse, this book (one of the very first published) stands alone as a singular accomplishment. It is honest and insightful, yet never overly graphic. The author brings her considerable writing talent to bear on her reflection of how years of abuse shaped her as an adult and a parent. Never bitter, never placing blame, Charlotte Vale Allen offers a potent look at the insidious permanent effects of her childhood experience. It is a gracious, heartfelt autobiography in which the author not only never names her parents but, in many ways, offers an understanding of the family dynamics at play that is nothing less than remarkable. To read her fiction and then to read this book is to see a very full portrait of a woman with the heart of a lion and a powerful gift of insight into the behavior, not only of others but also of her own self--past and present. It is the definitive book to read in order to comprehend how an extraordinary child coped with an ongoing horror and yet emerged to take what she'd learned and turn it to the good by writing books that always offer viable explanations for what is, so often, inaccessible to most of us. In its own right, Daddy's Girl is a quiet masterpiece.