The Price of Love by Nikola T. James
The Price of Love is the heart-rending story of a young girl who, against all the odds, survived terrifying abuse with her spirit intact. Nikola was sexually assaulted and raped as a girl, her disturbed behaviour and emotional cries for help ignored by the adults around her. Her self esteem at rock bottom, she fell prey to a frightening stranger, a man who would turn her life into a living nightmare. He was handsome and charming and she was too young to see the warning signs. She married him while in her teens. The abuse started on the first night of their honeymoon. Over the next few years she was kept a prisoner, sexually abused, subject to horrific beatings, tormented by her husband who insisted he was only doing this because he loved her. And again, those who should have helped her refused to believe that she was telling the truth.
When her husband told her, with a chilling lack of emotion, that he was going to kill her Nikola found the courage to run away and fight to be free of him. Eventually she turned her life around, and today works as a therapist helping others. Written without self-pity, this is a compelling and ultimately inspiring book.