The Looked After Kid, Revised Edition : My Life in a Children's Home

The walk, July 1958 -- Hurt is where the home is, April 1971 -- It's the good life, Sorrento, Italy, 1947 -- The art of gracious living, Redhill, Surrey, 1958 -- In purgatory, May, 1968 -- The looked after kids, September 1968 -- The road long and winding. My essential tomorrow. Epilogue. Placed in care at a very early age, Paolo Hewitt went to live with a foster family where he endured extreme abuse and humiliation.Following years of abuse he was sent to Burbank children's home at the age of ten where he met a gang of children. Like him, they were outsiders struggling to find their place in the world. Paolo paints a vivid picture of his coming of age in the children's home; of bruising fights, failed love, brushes with the law and enduring friendships, and describes how his salvation eventually comes through his passion for music and literature.Gripping and perceptive, The Looked After Kid is is a testament to the resilience of children who'go to sleep at night believing the world to be a dark and terrible place', but wonderfully emerge from the darkness to shine their lights on all. Placed in care at a very early age, Paolo Hewitt went to live with a foster family where he endured extreme abuse and humiliation. Following years of abuse he was sent to Burbank children's home at the age of ten where he met a gang of children. Like him they were outsiders struggling to find their place in the world. Paolo paints a vivid picture of his coming of age in the children's home; of bruising fights, failed love, brushes with the law and enduring friendships, and describes how his salvation eventually comes through his passion for music and literature. Gripping and perceptive, this book is a testament to the resilience of children who 'go to sleep at night believing the world to be a dark and terrible place', but wonderfully emerge from the darkness to shine their lights on all a beautiful, uplifting book about the survival of the human spirit' - Irvine Welsh But We All Shine On: The Remarkable Orphans of Burbank Children’s Home 8 Acknowledgements 15 Prologue 17 1. Author in Search of a Character: The Story of Des Hurrion 29 2. The Runaway Boy: The Story of Norman Bass 61 3. The Boy Who Couldn’t Be Heard: The Story of David Westbrook 101 4. Those the Gods Make Crazy: The Story of Terry Hodgson 125 Interlude: Things Seen at Dawn 149 5. Home 153 Placed in care at an early age, Paolo Hewitt vividly describes his early life spent with an abusive foster family before he is moved to Burbank children's home aged 10. There he meets a gang of inspiring children who are outsiders just like him, and together they struggle to create a life for themselves.