Dancing In Circles

"Many times in a tearful voice, I used to beg him to stop, saying, "Please, Daddy. Please stop. It hurts." I would promise him that I would never again commit whatever offense it was that had landed me in that terrible predicament. Still, he never showed any mercy. My pleas fell on deaf ears" (p. 1).

From the first page, Anthony Miller's tear-jerking account of the physical and verbal abuse he endured at the hands of his father tugs at the heartstrings. Looking back on his childhood and examining his memories, Miller uses his skill with words to relay the terror, the agony, and the physical and emotional scars that resulted from the abuse he experienced.

He delves into the dread and confusion caused by being forced to create the implement of his own abuse, as his father often made him do. He also explores the cognitive dissonance created by an authority figure, a parent, who says he loves you but causes so much pain.

Dancing in Circles is a must-read account of child abuse through the eyes of the child and a warning about the long-term effects of those traumatic experiences on the lives of the abused.