The author's father was a man who had an angry, sinister soul inside of him, which she called -the foul beast within him.- How the author and her siblings survived all the tragedies bestowed upon them is unimaginable. They were starved, beaten, and in winter left with frostbite; their summers were filled with extreme dehydration and long, exhausting days. Even though police and social services agencies in two states were called hundreds of times, they were unable to catch the perpetrator. To these nine children, it seemed like the burden of saving their own lives had fallen to themselves....