Children are humans. They have a right to an education and a right to a social life. There is a UN mandate for children that was clearly breached in multiple ways by my parents. I really enjoyed this book: it was a well written and easy to read account of someone who had a very different childhood but managed to survive it. A few bits of the book (like the adult Suzanne going off in search of Wavewalker) were a bit tedious: factual accounts for completeness rather than part of the main story. Following his return to the UK Gordon was oblivious to the fact that he had been awarded 'The Lady Swathling Trophy'. This gave an approximate position line but, with no chance of any more sights, no accurate position. Nevertheless it enabled Gordon to recalculate his position and to adjust course. She now has a new partner, James, in business like her and father to three teenage boys. They met via the internet a year or so ago, when she felt ready. Her children, Jonny, 21, and twins Lizzie and Peter, 19, are all at university – Cambridge and Oxford – which her husband did not get to see. ‘That is hard,’ she says.

After a further recalculation of the schooner's position Gordon estimated that they would see the island ahead at about 5pm - it was some time after 6pm that they actually sighted the island through the falling snow. We set off again. After a brief classroom experience in Queensland, Australia, some months later, I registered with a correspondence school, but finding the space and time I needed to study on board Wavewalker became a huge battle. My parents had by then started bringing paying crew on to the boat – advertising our voyages as “whale and dolphin sighting expeditions”. This turned our boat into a floating hotel in which I was expected to cook and clean for several hours a day. In addition, after I reached puberty, my relationship with my mother had deteriorated and she often didn’t talk to me for weeks on end, instead only referring to me in the third person, as if I was not there. I was trapped on Wavewalker against my will, with parents who didn’t seem to care how unhappy I was Oh dear,” said the counsellor. She was trying to be helpful, but the hint of kindness in her words pushed me over the edge. “And … and … ” I said, tears running down my face, “and worst of all, I don’t want to be spending my time doing any of this. I need to be studying, or I won’t get into university.”One night my father came home and said that we needed a family conference. The discussion took place over a dinner of corned beef and cabbage, spiced up with Tabasco sauce. Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

Anyone who loved The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls or Educated by Tara Westover will love this book. Its less traumatic in many ways but its a rollercoaster of a read.It requires true courage to take ownership of one’s own story when others involved in the story have such a different version, especially when those others are one’s ageing parents. There are no higher stakes, and she knows it. Heywood concludes by saying, “I had no control over my life when I was a child, but as an adult I have the right to tell my story as honestly as I can.” This personal and powerful book is so great. What a journey - a hardcore one at times. I’m glad the compass has found its way home” - Bear Grylls

I have seen for myself the incredible work that has gone into the first phase of the sea wall, and once completed our investment will provide a resilient railway for generations to come.” From there he plans to take the Panama Canal to get to the Galapgos islands followed by Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia.A seven-year old girl on a seventy-foot yacht, for ten years, over fifty thousand miles of sailing. Wavewalker is the incredible true story of how the adventure of a lifetime became one child’s worst nightmare – and how her determination to educate herself enabled her to escape. I just finished reading the extract from the Guardian's what we are reading now section. I was so drawn in that now I'm dying to read the rest. What was particularly sad was Suzanne’s relationship with her mother, which was frankly awful. But it really sounded like her mother was rather a victim of the dad’s autocratic flights of fancy too. She sounded depressed for a lot of time, and clearly took her plight out on her daughter. The swelling is pressing down on the fracture. If we do nothing, Monsieur Capitaine, your daughter could end up with brain damage. We must cut into the wound.” I’m not afraid to die if we’re all together,’ her father told the children. Heywood remembers him throwing her a gun to help repel a group of men trying to get on board. It is a glimpse, through one lens, of exciting derring-do – but through a mother’s eyes the memory is chilling.

Gordon received his award over 30 years after the incident in 1977 following many years living and sailing overseas. I put my hand on the sofa’s red plastic cover. He was listing more destinations – Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea. Mum was nodding and smiling. The Lady Swathling Award, for an outstanding feat of seamanship and navigation, was presented to Gordon Cook from Gloucestershire in recognition of his outstanding seamanship and navigation when he successfully sailed and navigated a severely damaged 30 ton yacht to safety saving the lives of all six people onboard. Designed especially for marine operations in rough seas, surf, intertidal and shallow transition zones, ecologically sensitive areas, and on beaches; WaveWalker 1 offers flexibility and efficiency when working in areas typically affected by weather and tides, by delivering a safe, secure solution for marine operations.Ah,” he said, “we have a draw.” He looked at Jon and me, and I sat up straight, ready to explain my choice. Gloucestershire's Gordon Cook has received a special award in recognition of his outstanding seamanship and navigation.