A daughter has shared her mother’s heartbreaking story as a victim of child sex abuse and rape in Dundee in the 1930s.
Pamela Morrison, 71, discovered the depths of her mother’s trauma when she uncovered a journal belonging to her mother, Sheila, after her death in 1997.
Sheila, who was aged 72 when she died, had written about physical and sexual abuse she suffered as a young child from a grown man.
The journal also revealed a later incident where she was raped by another man when she was 19-years-old and gave birth to a baby boy as a result, only to have the baby taken from her, never to meet him again.
It has taken Pamela more than 20 years to begin writing her mother’s story into a novel but she has finally done so in the hope it will help other trauma survivors.
She said: “I was both horrified and inspired by what my mother went through – what she had written was an attempt to heal herself.
“Through that she learned forgiveness. She learned to forgive (her abusers) and to forgive herself.”
Pamela explained that following forgiveness, Sheila was able to emotionally move on and support other women dealing with unexpected pregnancy.
“Mum’s story was difficult but it became very positive,” Pamela said.
“She learned how to show love, married my father and raised three children of her own.
“I hope that by sharing her story it will give hope to other people who are suffering abuse or who have suffered abuse in the past, and show them that there is a way out.
“It’s about choice, a choice to love, and she made that choice every day of her life.”
Baby on the doorstep
Sheila was only six weeks old when her own mother left her on the doorstep of a Dundee home in 1925.
Throughout her childhood she was subjected to physical abuse which turned sexual for about two years, according to her journal.
She wrote that the sexual abuse stopped around the age of 12 but the physical abuse carried on for many years, and then was raped by another man.
Pamela said: “She thought that she would keep the baby but he was taken away from her and adopted.
In those days you didn’t have any choice.”
Pamela Morrison
“In those days you didn’t have any choice, that’s why she had to forgive herself.
“The secrets she kept for all those years and how damaging that was to her mental health – she was depressed but it wasn’t recognised in those days.”
In 1965 Sheila, her husband and her children, including Pamela, emigrated to Australia when Pamela was aged 13 and Sheila was in her 40s.
But the pain followed Sheila, who spent many years returning to the UK and searching for her lost son, to no avail.
“She had a letter for him asking for his forgiveness. It’s still sealed because she was never able to find him.”
Pamela, her brother Sandy, 73, and sister Catherine, 64, still live in Australia, as did Sheila until her death, having been diagnosed with dementia eight years earlier.
Pamela is visiting Scotland to launch her book in Dundee, in honour of her mother’s connections with the city.
The book launch of Sheila: “There’s no use crying over spilt milk” takes place at 2pm on Sunday May 14 at The Vine Function Centre, Magdalen Yard Road, in Dundee. Advanced booking required, but tickets are free.
