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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to assume that Cathy Glass books are fiction?

61 replies

Weetabixelly · 04/07/2021 19:44

They purport to be true, but how can they be? Surely no Foster Carer would be allowed to get away with publishing the stories of children they have fostered as it would be such a massive breach of confidentiality.

Even, if the children in her books agreed (as adults) to her publishing their life stories , it still seems so exploitative?

OP posts:

user1745 · 08/07/2021 00:59

Most of them claim to be true stories but I am confused as to how she can be allowed to write in such detail about real children and often real cases of child abuse. I used to enjoy these books but now I feel really uneasy about real people having their personal stories commercialised like this, especially since when you look at the updates on her website, she hasn't been in contact with some of the children since they left her care, so how can she have asked their permission to write about them? Perhaps people are more likely to buy them when they're presented as true stories, but I'd feel a lot better about it if they were definitely fiction.

They are very detailed for stories that supposedly happened years ago, so if they're true I can only assume she takes lots of artistic license in padding them out with details.

user1745 · 08/07/2021 01:03

@DeathByWalkies

I got the impression that her first book (Damaged) was probably based on a real story and had enough detail to flesh out a whole book.

The trouble was, it did so well that the publishers wanted more and more books when she didn't have enough real life material to make into a whole new book. Hence padding it out with bath times and casseroles.

She's got a few fiction books now, which suggests to me that everyone knows she's run out of new material. She should quit while she's ahead.

It did always surprise me that she was allowed to publish such details. If you read the updates section of her website it's clear that she hasn't had any contact with many of the subjects of the books since they left her care, sometimes many years previously, so I don't see how she can possibly have gained consent.

Damaged was probably the most realistic story of all of them. The child didn't really have a happy ending, but the book ended with her in a specialist unit as she was so severely traumatised from abuse. That was the book that kickstarted Cathy Glass's writing career and it's gone downhill from there really.

TreeSmuggler · 08/07/2021 01:24

And I've always wondered about the timeline of these books. Can't remember what it was but something didn't add up with the ages of her kids and how long she'd been fostering.

Yes the timeline doesn't make sense unless she is aged 120, she has fostered seemingly hundreds of kids, each for a year or more yet.

I'm not sure where she is going to go from here, her first books were about stories that (allegedly) happened years ago but the books have now caught up to the present day. I'm guessing she may "remember" some from the past.

TreeSmuggler · 08/07/2021 01:27

The snark about her exh is probably the one realistic part of the books. Only because who would write a fictional character like that!

Belledan1 · 14/07/2021 19:27

Back again. I just read two that I had already downloaded ages ago. It was when her daughter was having baby. Cant believe she explained that pregnant woman wee a lot and also they have contractions when give birth!! Also we explained her log about 4 times. Made her daughter a casserole and had a sandwich and soup lunch.

Belledan1 · 14/07/2021 19:28

She explained her log not me

Tiddleztheelephant · 14/07/2021 20:54

@Belledan1

I weirdly like all the sandwich lunch, casserole, over explaining though. I find it comforting somehow. The books aren't supposed to be a challenging read are they?

PermanentTemporary · 14/07/2021 21:02

Yes when I read them I hope they're not real. I also think they are mainly comfort reading to help us all believe that if we can just put a fresh duvet cover on and cook a hot meal, abused and neglected children will be fine with us.

LuxOlente · 14/07/2021 21:15

I believe Torey Hayden was quite open that her books were composite characters.

Belledan1 · 15/07/2021 17:34

Tiddleztheelephant. Yes I so know where your are coming from. Think just noticed more things after reading this thread

homurachan2026 · 10/01/2026 19:10

1000% fake. I can tell just from the way she writes characters of various minorities (when she bothers to write about them). The Child Bride was about a Bengali (no, sorry, she said ASIAN, because according to her Asians are all monolith) girl who was forced into a child marriage. That was her absolute worst out of all I read. She painted herself as the white savior who rescued a young Asian girl from her backwards culture - and also makes it sound as if the protagonist hates every aspect of her culture, which I find hard to believe. If these were real stories, then she would have had more than 1 gender non-conforming child stay with her - but all except for 1 are either about straight/cis children or (in the case the child is very young) don't mention sexuality at all. The stories are just so unrealistic, plus it is obvious Cathy does not actually know anything about people of different backgrounds.

Edit: also she doesn't write which year things happened

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