Murphy's Boy

When Torey Hayden first met fifteen-year-old Kevin, he was barricaded under a table. Desperately afraid of the world around him, he hadn't spoken a word in eight years. He was considered hopeless, incurable, but Hayden refused to believe it. With unwavering devotion and gentle, patient love, she set out to free him--and slowly uncovered a shocking, violent history and a terrible secret that an unfeeling bureaucracy had simply filed away and forgotten. But she never gave up on this tragic "lost case." For a trapped and frightened boy desperately needed her help--and she knew in her heart she could not rest easy until she had rescued him from the darkness The Dramatic And Moving True Story Of A Fifteen-year-old Boy Who Refused To Speak-- Until The Miracle Of Love Penetrated His Miserable Silence. His Name Was Kevin But His Keepers Called Him Zoo Boy. He Didn't Talk. He Hid Under Tables And Surrounded Himself With A Cage Of Chairs. He Hadn't Been Out Of The Building In The Four Years Since He'd Come In. He Was Afraid Of Water And Wouldn't Take A Shower. He Was Afraid To Be Naked, To Change His Clothes. He Was Nearly 16. Desperate To See Change In The Boy, The Staff Of Kevin's Adolescent Treatment Center Hired Hayden. As Hayden Read To Him And Encouraged Him To Read, Crawling Down Into His Cage Of Chairs With Him, Kevin Talked. Then He Started To Draw And Paint And Showed Himself To Have A Quick Wit And A Rolling, Seething, Murderous Hatred For His Stepfather. Torey L. Hayden. Originally Published: New York : Putnam, 1983.