Brief

A family drama about a young girl's struggle growing up in an emotionally and physically abusive household. Her search for love and acceptance sometimes leads her to even worse situations. A poignant story, in which the woman at the center finally learns to love and respect herself.

What We Liked

- This story has an arc that makes it perfect for a film. The character starts off at a young age
and the audience journeys with her to 25 years old. Through that time, she overcomes child
abuse, a torturous sister, men who grope her any chance they get and an under-developed
self-esteem, and at the end of the film, she has found a way to love and respect herself, now
as a mother and ex-wife;
- It takes place in one town;
- There are memorable characters;
- It deals with overcoming challenges and finding self-love.

Synopsis

It’s the 1950s and Maggie Clyne lives with her spiteful sister, Mary, her doting brother, Mike, and her abusive parents, Don and Helen, in small-town England. As a young child, she has to do chores that no 8-year-old should be doing. Her sister delights in her misery and often contributes to her getting into trouble with her parents, which leads to them hitting her. Even when she goes off to a convent school, Maggie is not safe from torment and abuse - the nuns at the school pick on her too. Maggie’s only respite comes from summers spent at her grandparents’ farm.

She starts working at a bistro at the age of 14, where she also starts to attract the attention of men. She finds most guys her age are only into getting laid and losing their virginity, and learns the hard way when her first boyfriend practically forces himself onto her for her first time having sex, that they don’t care about her feelings. Eventually Maggie does find a guy who respects and loves her. But he’s an ex-drug addict and her parents won’t have any of it. They beat her black and blue, forbidding her to see him. He is driven out of town, and she decides to put all her focus on finding a job that can help her earn money to be on her own. By the time she’s 18, a man she meets at her office job asks her to marry him. Desperate to get out of her parents house, Maggie agrees.

Within a month of being married, Maggie has an affair. Things deteriorate between her and her husband, but they decide to give it another go and move houses to be away from his overbearing mother. Maggie falls pregnant and gives birth to a daughter, and thinks that will help her get the love she desires from her husband. But it doesn’t. The contractor who is working on their new house takes a liking to her, even though he is almost double her age. They, too, begin an affair, but he is married. He tells her he is going to leave her wife and so she moves in with him, but he is not in the process of leaving his wife at all. Distraught, Maggie moves out of his place, and back into the house she shared with her ex-husband, while it is being sold. She starts a new job, but one night at an office party, she is almost gang-raped. Her new boss offers her the chance to be an escort, and she takes it, eager for the chance to earn extra money. She then moves into being a call-girl, convincing herself she can use the money to send her daughter to a good school.

Maggie sleeps with various men and earns enough to start a new life for herself and her daughter. She leaves behind the call-girl life, and starts to find some peace in her life.

About The Author

Jean Hudson, who lives in London, Ontario in Canada, is a first-time author -- Maggie is her first book. She is currently working on a second book that is due to be released next year.