Lotus is living with her first foster family and it’s not the happy home she was promised it would be. So very young she is already starting to learn what she must do to survive…
Martin was the worst. He would torment me in ways that would almost have me in tears, but I never cried; I would never give him the satisfaction. Things got worse as time went on, and he realised I could beat him. At first it was just teasing and torment, but eventually it became physical – that was shortly before I was removed from their care.
On the way to school he would steal my lunch box and sell my lunch to the other kids. For a while I would go hungry through the day, but after I came out of hospital I started taking care of things. He still stole my lunch, and I would pretend to be upset, but what he didn’t know, was that when everyone had gone to bed at night, I would sneak into the kitchen and make myself a second lunch, which I hid in a tear in my little orange coat. Because I could only hide a small sandwich in my coat, I would pick-pocket the other kids and buy crisps and sweets from the shop at first playtime.
Some might say this was when my life of crime began, but not really. This was just survival, and when you were treated like me you had to be quick to survive. The other kids would bully me and call me names and some would even go as far as pinning me down in the playground and punching my face. I had no friends to stand up for me, but I was fine. After a while I discovered it was a great way to get my money; while they were on top of me beating the crap out of me, I would pretend to try and push them away and steal the twenty pences out of their pockets. This was my own special way of avenging their beatings, and I was never suspected of stealing by the teachers; I was the quiet little foster child who sat in the corner with no friends and kept to herself.
On May 17th 1982, an infant girl is found in a stolen car abandoned on a bridge. The police call her ‘Lotus’ after the car she is discovered in, and ‘Ogden’ – the name of the dam over which the car rested. Abandoned for no one; for no one came to claim her as their child, no one came to say that they were responsible for this babe, no one came to love her. This was how it was to be; always. Following abuse at the hands of her adoptive father, foster families and others, Lotus finds unlikely allies in car thieves and drug dealers, but her life of crime extends so much further than any of them appreciate. So very young, she takes her first life and realises how easy it is, and how no one would ever suspect the poor, timid, shy little girl who nobody calls their own. “Villain? Anti-Hero? Whatever she is, Lotus Ogden is like a perfect storm of rage and pain, but she’s also disturbingly human.” “Feed the dogs and take the phone off the hook. Once you get into this book you’re not going to want to put it down.” “A fast read, a great story, full of twists and turns.”
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre – Crime, Thriller
Rating – PG-18
More details about the author
No comments:
Post a Comment