Why this book exists
A focused place to understand what is happening
Callum is forty-seven. He is married, has two grown children, is well thought of at work, and is regarded by everyone who knows him as steady, capable, and rather private. There is something that happened to him when he was nine, over a period of about two years, involving an adult who was known to his family and trusted by them. In the thirty-eight years since it stopped he has told exactly nobody. Not his wife. Not his brother. Not the doctor who has asked him about his mood twice. He has come close perhaps four times in four decades, felt the words assemble themselves somewhere behind his teeth, and each time said something else instead. If you asked Callum why, he would struggle to give you a single reason, and that is accurate rather than.
The writing is designed to reduce shame, bring the underlying pattern into view and give you practical ways to respond without pretending that every life follows the same formula.
