Judith is a battered 12-year-old who blames herself rather than her mother for her mother's constant and increasing physical abuse. Michael, one of her classmates, recently suffered from the emotional abuse of his severely critical father. Judith misses school often and keeps to herself. Oddly, she wears a turtleneck even on warm days and frequently has an excuse for getting out of gym. Yet, the mysterious girl reminds schoolmate Michael of a friend who had …showed first 75 words of 1540 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1540 total…one Mr. Andrew Vachss. "The effect that child abuse has not just on the victims, but on their subsequent victims and on society as a whole, is, in my judgment, far more devastating than the threat of drugs, of political upheaval, of economic disaster, or of environmental destruction... I really think that child abuse is the most significant threat not just to the quality of life in this country, but to life in this country."