The Unthinkable - A Story of Control, Violence and My Mother

"When my mum struck, it was with the cumulative rage of thirty years of hurt." David Challen grew up in the perfect home with the model family. He also grew up inside a house which concealed his father''s manipulation and control. One Saturday in 2010, David''s mother struck more than twenty blows to the back of her husband''s head with a hammer after thirty years of abuse. She then washed the dirty dishes from the lunch she had just cooked and left the house. In those few minutes, David''s life was changed forever. Over the next decade, he led the fight to overturn her conviction ; and in doing so he not only freed his mother and transformed the legal system, but also became a voice for the countless victims of coercive control across the country. This is a powerful story of a son''s love for his mother; of an insidious form of abuse that must be better understood if we are to truly tackle it; and fight that changed the course of British legal history forever.

Product details

• Authors: David Challen
• Publisher: Conran Octopus Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 09.04.2026
• EAN: 9781914240300
• ISBN: 978-1-914240-30-0
• No. of pages: 320
• Subjects: LAW / Criminal Law / General, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Abuse / Domestic Partner Abuse, TRUE CRIME / General, Memoirs, Family & relationships, Coping with personal problems, domestic violence, Relationships and families: advice and issues, Domestic abuse, Coping with / advice about abuse, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs