As Hayden writes in the prologue to this book, ‘This little girl had a profound effect on me. Their hearts were captured by Sheila, a silent, troubled girl who had been abandoned on a highway by her mother and abused by her alcoholic father, and who refused to speak. Special education teacher Torey Hayden’s first book, One Child, was an international bestseller, thrilling readers on every continent. This is the remarkable story of their journey together - an odyssey of hope, courage, and inspiring devotion that opened the heart and mind of one lost child to a new world of discovery and joy. With patience, skill, and abiding love, she fought long and hard to release a haunted little girl from her secret nightmare - and nurture the spark of genius she recognised trapped within Sheila’s silence. Everyone thought Sheila was beyond salvation - except her teacher, Torey Hayden.

A survivor of horrific abuse, she never spoke, never cried, and was placed in a class for severely re*tarded children after committing an atrocious act of violence against another child. Six-year-old Sheila was abandoned by her mother on a highway when she was four. This beautiful and deeply moving tale recounts educational psychologist Torey Hayden’s battle to unlock the emotions of a troubled and sexually abused child who, with the help of Hayden, was finally able to overcome her dark past and realise her full potential.

Murphy's Boy by Torey L. Hayden