Ugly

'I handed my school photograph to my mother. She stared from the photograph to me. "Lord, sweet Lord, how come she so ugly. Ugly. Ugly.'

These cruel words are just the beginning. Constance's mother systematically abused her daughter, both physically and emotionally, throughout her childhood. Regularly beaten and starved, the child was so desperate she took herself off to Social Services and tried to get taken into care. When Constance was thirteen, her mother simply moved out, leaving her daughter to fend for herself: there was no gas, no electricity and no food.

But somehow Constance found the courage to survive her terrible start in life. This is her heartbreaking - and ultimately triumphant story.