Customer Reviews

The Unbreakable Child

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The Unbreakable Child will rip your heart out of your chest and dangle it in front of you. You'll ignore that minor inconvenience, because your eyes won't move from the pages of Kim Richardson's debut memoir. This is the story of Richardson's nine years in a Kentucky orphanage. At the same time, it's the story of the lawsuit brought against the order of nuns who ran the orphanage by Richardson and forty-four other former orphans.

You know those sensational stories splashed across the newspapers and leading the nightly news? The ones about priests and nuns abusing and molesting children? Kim lived it.

Kim and her three older sisters were taken from their neglectful mother when Kim was a toddler. The beatings started soon after and didn't stop until the girls' mother was granted custody again nine years later. There were bright spots--the gardener's flowers and homemade cookies, the friendships, the visits from the mostly ineffectual social worker. But the brightest spot was perhaps the death of Kim's main abuser.

Interspersed with the story of Kim's childhood is the story of the lawsuit. Forty-five regular people against the might of the Church might seem too daunting to attempt. But one lawyer took on the task, and won. Kim's struggle against high-powered lawyers mirrors her indomitable spirit struggling against years of abuse. Kim came out the victor both times. The end of this book, with Kim loved by her husband and children, is a testament to hope and strength.

Through the pages of this well written memoir, Kim Richardson puts a "face" on all children who have suffered abuse at the hand of those charged to protect and nurture them. In an age where abuse of children and vulnerable adults seems epidemic, her story reminds the reader of the responsibility we all have to be vigilant for evidence of abuse of those who cannot protect themselves and quick to report suspected abuse to the appropriate authority.

This is not just a story of injustice and cruelty beyond belief, but is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit and the triumph of perseverance and determination over stark adversity. Readers who have suffered an abusive past will be inspired by Ms. Richardson's example of hope, courage, and reconciliation. Those who have devoted their careers to protecting children will face their work with a renewed sense of mission. No one will read this book and not be deeply affected.

It is a must read for students entering the field of social work!

Thank you, Ms. Richardson, for opening your life and sharing your journey for our betterment.

I simply cannot recommend this book highly enough. This edition of The Unbreakable Child, published by Behler Publications, is new and expanded, and contains a reader's guide. The memoir details Kim's horrific abuse as a child at the hands of the clergy who were supposed to be caring for her and nurturing her, and it also chronicles Kim's work, together with other former orphans, with William McMurray, a strong advocate for victims of clergy and institutional abuse. Kim and other former orphans were the first clergy abuse victims to win a settlement against an order of Catholic nuns. The book is very timely, with new horror stories of clergy abuse coming to light each day.

Kim's story is healing to those who have themselves experienced such horrors, and it is a testament to Kim's spirit, her unbreakable strength, and the power which resides in her heart to forgive. Her memoir also offers encouragement to people who have suffered abuse, that it is possible to strengthen the broken places and live fully and freely. And last but not least, her book plays a strong and vital role in demanding accountability and apology from the Catholic church, acknowledgement by the Church of the wrongs committed by its clergy to bring about an environment, in all institutions of the Church, in which those wrongs will never be tolerated again.

Kim Michele Richardson is an inspiration and a true heroine.

I just finished reading The Unbreakable Child. It was one of the hardest books I've ever read, yet one of the most necessary. I am a Catholic nun and was outraged at the humiliation, degradation, pain and exploitation that Kim and the others experienced during their years at the orphanage. I am so very, very sorry that those who should have shown God's love for them treated them with such cruel intent.

Kim's amazing journey of healing is ultimately a beacon of hope, showing that in our darkest moments our light shines brightest.

It's rare to find an author that can both break your heart and heal it, but Ms. Richardson manages to do just that with her story of abuse, neglect, and the strength and joy that comes from forgiveness. A truly remarkable read.

The Unbreakable Child is this generation's A Child Called It. An inspirational read, full of hope, justice, and redemption. With heartbreaking honesty, Richardson chronicles her abuses at the orphanage where she spent many years not only abandoned by society and the Church, but by her own family. Despite the brutal attempts to break her spirit, Richardson remained not only the unbreakable child, but a woman determined to break through the institutional wall to speak for victims everywhere. This book will break your heart, then open it to the possibility that through strength, determination, and love those once forgotten will be found again.

There are poignant moments of clarity and tenderness, and even humor. One can never forget Richardson's first ice-cream cone and the delight of that first taste of sweet, or her first supper of fried chicken, her first gift of a beautiful bracelet, her first time to taste the wind - Young Richardson's gratitude for the smallest of life's gifts will stay locked in the reader's heart forever.

And most beautiful of all is when Richarson at last finds her Forever Family. An unforgettable must read.

I came across this book by chance and was hooked from the first page! The author's honesty is what drew me in: her truthfulness in exposing horrific abuses at the orphanage and her fear, as the present-day adult battles the Roman Catholic Church for justice.

It is amazing how someone who suffered such atrocities can still possess the grace to stand up for what's right without being consumed by vengeance. Even more amazing is that the author doesn't try to guard her vulnerabilities from the reader. She shares her soul with us.

Anyone who has known pain or suffered injustice will draw strength and inspiration from Ms. Richardson's story.

Heart-breaking and heroic, this is truly an unforgettable read.

The Unbreakable Child is a memoir describing attempts to break a child's spirit, but Ms. Richardson fights her demons and overcomes great adversities. Through her childhood struggles, the raw emotions and physical pains only strengthened her will. It's a memoir about coming to terms with the past, protecting the present, and turning another light on the future.

Ms. Richardson also pays tribute to the courage of one man, William McMurry, the fiery and compassionate attorney who exposed and successfully brought to justice the systematic secrecy of decades of orphan abuses.

This author's beautiful voice shines through in this page-turner. Touching on every emotion, The Unbreakable Child will make you laugh, cry, feel the pain and share in the joy, and finally, leave you applauding like movie-goers watching a 4-star movie. Written from the heart with so many in mind that by the end you want to hug Ms. Richardson.

When I read this book I had to stop over and over again because I could not believe it was based on fact and not fiction. I read this book cover to cover in a couple of days and now, over a week later, in the middle of doing something totally mundane, I find myself stopping to think about it. I was engaged the entire time and as the mother of a small child I would consider that to be a huge compliment to the author. Great read. Great read

"Maybe if I work harder my life will be shorter" an eight-year old Kim Richardson thinks, upon being told that cats have shorter lives because they work hard for their keep. What could possibly cause such a thought to enter the mind of a child? Kim Richardson tells us in The Unbreakable Child in a way that will draw you in and break your heart on the very first page.

This is a story about unimaginable abuse that happened over a period of nine years to Kimmi, as she was known, when she was in the "care" of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth at the St. Thomas/St. Vincent Orphanage. Kimmi's mother had been declared an unfit mother by the state of Kentucky when Kimmi was just an infant, and she and her three older sisters were removed from their home and subsequently placed in the orphanage.

Kim writes about the horrific physical and mental abuse that the girls endured at the hands of the Sisters and, as if that was not bad enough, further abuse at the hands of a potential 'forever family' where Kim spends one summer.

Intertwined with story of her experience in the orphanage, Kim shares the brave journey she took with attorney William McMurray in seeking justice for herself and the other children who were abused by the Sisters. Richardson emerged from an appalling childhood miraculously strong. With the help of Mr. McMurray she sought to seek restitution and justice not only for herself, but for the rest of the children who suffered at the hands of those who should have cared for them. Richardson and McMurray triumph in the end, and the victims that they fought so hard for received a monetary settlement for the years of abuse they endured.

Kim Michele Richardson could have taken the path of a victim, but instead she has risen up as a hero sustained by her faith and strength of character.

This is her story.

by Linda Hoye
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women