When You Lose It: Two voices. One true story. A mother and daughter on the edge. 'A very important subject' – ITV's This Morning
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By Roxy Longworth, and and, Gay Longworth
avg rating
3 reviews
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A gripping memoir of two battling narratives and a mother-daughter relationship stretched to its absolute limits.
Roxy was 13 years old when she was coerced then blackmailed into sending explicit photos, which were spread around her school. The shame led to self-loathing. The blame led to a psychotic breakdown. Roxy started hearing voices. Then she started seeing things…
What happens when your teenager starts to lose it, and then you lose each other? What happens when you can’t tell your mother you desperately need help? And how can a family move past a devastating mental health crisis?
When You Lose It is a brutally honest true story, written from two perspectives, of consent, coercion and shattering consequences.
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Reviews
A great, gritty read. Sometimes a hard read but one that should be in all school libraries. Believable characters and fast paced plot.
When a books starts with an introduction which says “To the school - you left me alone, …. Chose to protect the guilty” “To the boys - I was 13”, “To the reader - when I was just 13, my life fell apart and I felt like that was it.”, how can you not feel the power of of the pages to come. If this was fiction it would almost be unbelievable what Roxy endured and how her family dealt with it.
So important, for girls to understand the reality of what can happen when they send messages and share things online, but also for boys to know that none of this is acceptable. A book that I have already recommended many times to friends with teenagers, it is powerful and heartbreaking.
This book is a great indicator of online bulling – I am much more aware of the signs to look out for with my own grandchild. I will be giving the book to my daughters to read, so they can tell my granddaughters and grandsons what they should not be doing on the internet. I can’t believe how the school let the boys get away with no telling off; I felt the school let Roxy down in a big way. The whole story left me feeling very sad. I also think it is a book that all teachers should be made to read, so they hopefully deal with a similar situation in a better way.
Julie Brownrigg – Housekeeping Manger
