If I Should Die Before I Wake.

In her bestselling memoir As I Lay Me Down to Sleep , Eileen Munro vividly documented the emotional, physical and sexual abuse she experienced as a child at the hands of her adoptive parents and, later, within the care system, which resulted in a secret pregnancy. The birth of Eileen's son, Craig, and her escape from the clutches of the authorities should have seen her turn a corner, but the spectre of her past continually returned to haunt her. In If I Should Die Before I Wake , Eileen still hasn't given up on her search for her real parents or for an education for both Craig and herself, yet she is locked in a dispiriting journey that finds her facing exploitation, suffering further sexual and physical abuse, enduring periods of homelessness and poor housing conditions, and blighted by bad health. But Eileen battles on, still holding hopes for the future, eventually finding the sense of belonging that has eluded her for so long. In this harrowing but ultimately inspirational second volume of memoir, Eileen Munro proves that, against all the odds, happiness does sometimes come to those who never give up hope.