By Keith Morris

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2009: Norwich best-selling author Maria Landon has released her second book which continues the shocking story of a young girl forced into prostitution on the streets of Norwich by her own father, and her painful journey to escape her horrific childhood and build a new life for herself and her sons.

 

Escaping Daddy, is the sequel to the best-selling Daddy’s Little Earner. Maria's dad was a pimp, living in a world of thieves and street-walkers. Her mother, tiring of turning tricks for her husband, walked out, leaving the children in his chaotic, violent and sometimes cruel care.

 

By the age of nine, Maria's father was abusing her and getting a prostitute friend to dress her up in stockings and make-up. By the time she was 14 he was selling her on the streets of the red light district in Norwich.

 

At 15 she ran away to King's Cross with an older lover who turned out to be just another pimp. Furious at losing a nice little earner her father involved the police and both he and the other man were jailed for living off Maria's immoral earnings. Only then could Maria escape her traumatic childhood and follow her dream of becoming a mother.

 

Escaping Daddy, tells Maria's story as she tries to rebuild her life. Determined to escape from her past and be the best wife and mother she could possibly be, Maria throws herself into her marriage. But it is never that easy to escape from such a traumatic start in life.

 

Maria tells the story of her marriage into the gypsy community and the emotional demons that rise up from her childhood to haunt her as she becomes the victim of violence once more. She leads the reader through her own personal and inspiring journey out of a nervous breakdown, through two marriages and on to becoming a personal development teacher, helping many others to overcome their pasts, and a strong, empowered single mother of two boys.

 

Maria said: “My healing journey has been an experience that has overwhelmed me many times and has evolved over many years. I am deeply passionate about personal development and growth. I truly believe that with the right help and support anybody can overcome childhood trauma and the devastating effects that it can have in our adult lives.

 

“I find great inspiration from people who have been through awful experiences and have managed to come out the other side and lead happy rewarding lives. If sharing my experiences and the steps I took to heal myself inspires anyone to help themselves out of the pain, then I have achieved what I set out to do. 

 

“It is not an easy road, but it has been the most rewarding of my life. I have had to learn to love, respect and forgive myself, I have had to learn to love, respect and forgive others but most importantly I have found myself. I am a very happy woman, I love being me. 

“This second book focuses much more on my healing journey and although I still went through some very tough times, I hope to explain the steps I took to recover from my very painful childhood. Hopefully this book will help us to understand why people turn to self destructing habits, but more importantly some ideas of what we can all do to help and support each other.

 

Maria, who still lives in Norwich, worships at Proclaimers Church and is getting involved with the Christian Magdalene Project which works with prostitutes.