The Child Bride
Cathy Glass, international bestselling author, tells the shocking story of Zeena, a young Asian girl desperate to escape from her family.When 14 -year-old Zeena begs to be taken into care with a non-Asian family, she is clearly petrified. But of what?Placed in the home of experienced foster carer Cathy and her family, Zeena gradually settles into her new life, but misses her little brothers and sisters terribly. Prevented from having any contact with them by her family who insist she has brought shame and dishonour on the whole community, Zeena tries to see them at school. But when her father and uncle find out, they bundle her into a car and threaten to set fire to her if she makes anymore trouble. Zeena is too frightened to press charges against them despite being offered police protection in a safe house.Eventually, Cathy discovers the devastating truth from Zeena, and with devastation she believes there is little she can do to help her.
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Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the children.
HarperElement
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperElement 2014
FIRST EDITION
© Cathy Glass 2014
A catalogue record of this book
is available from the British Library
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014
Cover photography by Nicky Rojas (posed by model)
Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Source ISBN: 9780007590001
Ebook Edition © September 2014 ISBN: 9780007590018
Version: 2016-04-22
Contents
Chapter Five: Scared into Silence
Chapter Eleven: Worries and Worrying
Chapter Thirteen: Consequences
Chapter Fifteen: Vicious Threats
Chapter Sixteen: Zeena’s Story
Chapter Seventeen: A Special Holiday
Chapter Twenty-One: Police Business
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Suitcase
Chapter Twenty-Three: Other Victims
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Silence Was Deafening
Chapter Twenty-Five: Heartbreaking
Chapter Twenty-Six: Turn of Events
Chapter Twenty-Seven: More than I Deserve
Damaged
Hidden
Cut
The Saddest Girl in the World
Happy Kids
The Girl in the Mirror
I Miss Mummy
Mummy Told Me Not to Tell
My Dad’s a Policeman (a Quick Reads novel)
Run, Mummy, Run
The Night the Angels Came
Happy Adults
A Baby’s Cry
Happy Mealtimes for Kids
Another Forgotten Child
Please Don’t Take My Baby
Will You Love Me?
About Writing and How to Publish
Daddy’s Little Princess
A big thank-you to my editor, Holly; my literary agent, Andrew; Carole, Vicky, Laura, Hannah, Virginia and all the team at HarperCollins.
A small child walks along a dusty path. She has been on an errand for her aunt and is now returning to her village in rural Bangladesh. The sun is burning high in the sky and she is hot and thirsty. Only another 300 steps, she tells herself, and she will be home.
The dry air shimmers in the scorching heat and she keeps her eyes down, away from its glare. Suddenly she hears her name being called close by and looks over. One of her teenage cousins is playing hide and seek behind the bushes.
‘Go away. I’m hot and tired,’ she returns, with childish irritability. ‘I don’t want to play with you now.’
‘I have water,’ he says. ‘Wouldn’t you like a drink?’
She has no hesitation in going over. She is very thirsty. Behind the bush, but still visible from the path if anyone looked, he forces her to the ground and rapes her.
She is nine years old.
Chapter One
‘And she wouldn’t feel more comfortable with an Asian foster carer?’ I queried.
‘No, Zeena has specifically asked for a white carer,’ Tara, the social worker, continued. ‘I know it’s unusual, but she is adamant. She’s also asked for a white social worker.’
‘Why?’
‘She says she’ll feel safer, but won’t say why. I want to accommodate her wishes if I can.’
‘Yes, of course,’ I said, puzzled. ‘How old is she?’
‘Fourteen. Although she looks much younger. She’s a sweet child, but very traumatized. She’s admitted she’s been abused, but is too frightened to give any details.’
‘The poor kid,’ I said.
‘I know. The child protection police office will see her as soon as we’ve moved her. She’s obviously suffered, but for how long and who abused her, she’s not saying. I’ve no background information. Sorry. All we know is that Zeena has younger siblings and her family is originally from Bangladesh, but that’s it I’m afraid. I’ll visit the family as soon as I’ve got Zeena settled. I want to collect her from school this afternoon and bring her straight to you. The school is working with us. In fact, they were the ones who raised the alarm and contacted the social services. I should be with you in about two hours.’
‘Yes, that’s fine,’ I said. ‘I’ll be here.’
‘I’ll phone you when we’re on our way,’ Tara clarified. ‘I hope Zeena will come with me this time. She asked to go into care on Monday but then changed her mind. Her teacher said she was petrified.’
