The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir - Paperback

by Maude Julien (Author)

For readers of Room and The Glass Castle, an astonishing memoir of one woman's rise above an unimaginable childhood.
Maude Julien's parents were fanatics who believed it was their sacred duty to turn her into the ultimate survivor -- raising her in isolation, tyrannizing her childhood and subjecting her to endless drills designed to "eliminate weakness." Maude learned to hold an electric fence for minutes without flinching, and to sit perfectly still in a rat-infested cellar all night long (her mother sewed bells onto her clothes that would give her away if she moved). She endured a life without heat, hot water, adequate food, friendship, or any kind of affectionate treatment.

Author Biography

Maude Julien is a therapist specializing in manipulation and psychological control. For the last ten years she has been doing anthropological research on the consequences of acculturation among Australian aborigines. A frequent contributor to radio and television, she has helped hundreds of patients since 1995. She lives in Paris.