'I found it difficult to understand when other children talked of having nightmares in their sleep. For me sleep was the only time when I felt truly safe. The nightmares I dreaded were always waiting for me when I awoke.'Michael Seed should have received what every child deserves: love, care and attention, and the chance to be just what he was - an innocent young boy. Instead, from as far back as he can remember, Michael's childhood was nothing but a daily ordeal. His fight for survival against a brutal and emotionally deranged father threatened to destroy his childish innocence and break his potent young spirit.He was starved, tortured, and forced to become a sex slave to his father at the age of five, and, after his mother's horrific suicide, fell victim to constant and terrible bullying at school. Grandparents, who might have offered protection and love, added to his misery and bruises with callous and calculated cruelty and for years he lived with the constant idea of his own suicide.Yet despite this appalling start in life Michael refused to surrender, and with incredible resilience and determination grew up to become hugely successful and influential in both the church and the secular world. After a lifetime of silence, he now feels able to tell a story that, although shockingly painful, is a blazing testament to one human's raw courage, and his remarkable ability to finally triumph over the horrors of a stolen childhood.This book will assist the NSPCC, the Cardinal Hume Centre for young people at risk and The Passage centre for the homeless.