Review: Nobody Came by Robbie Garner
There is now that much controversy surrounding the events at the two children’s homes on Jersey, an independently governed island off the British Isles, which probably won’t result in any answers, that the best thing to do is read the views of the children that went through them in absence of any proper legal proceedings.
Robbie Garner’s book, assembled with the help of female survivor Toni Maguire, manages this view from the horse’s mouth very effectively, and describes the entire lives of his brothers and baby sister as they are taken from their violent and rowing parents , sent to live at Sacred Heart and the more infamous Haut De La Garenne children’s homes on the island. The brothers are split up according to age and their baby sister disappears quickly. For the younger kids at the Sacred Heart/Sacré Coeur, the regime is more one of intimidation, physical abuse and violence that borderlines into organized torture from the nuns and their male puppets, with one paedophile on site and the other connected to one of the schools.
The book has a slightly different structure to other abuse memoirs in that its chronological structure puts the author’s worst sexual abuse incident nearer to the end, and the release of children from social care aged 15 on the island, rather than 18 on the mainland UK, essentially kick-starts their adulthood straight away. Life improves but not by much. Much of the fighting back is indirect and the orphanage boys have to pull together to survive, but Garner manages to increase his confidence through sport and the occasional scrap in school. There is one more incident of revenge by proxy which I won’t spoil and the fact that the abuse was island-based, wasn’t something the offenders took into account, and which the victims could exploit later on.
There is further family-related heartache for the boys when grown up, though that is dealt with quite efficiently in a fait-accompli manner as their mother and father essentially ceased to be parents after their placement in care.
The final sentence in the product description on Amazon UK is slightly misleading. There are 2-3 children described in the book that effectively disappear, but the vast majority of the author’s friends are accounted for at the end with their various fortunes in life, which takes Garner a few years to ascertain. The sentence about wondering about the missing refers to the worst victims of Haut De La Garenne, all of whom decide to get off the island and never return.
The book is brave not only for the author’s suffering throughout his childhood and his survival of it, but also for the fact that he didn’t derive any satisfaction from the media revelations regarding the story or any catharsis. So many memoirs attempt to give a happy ending and the reality is that it just doesn’t happen for many sexual abuse survivors, as shown by the suicide of some of the victims as Garner grows up, and Garner continues the role of carer to his younger brother into adult life due to the physical abuse that caused his sibling permanent damage.
It’s a powerful and instructive read and one to add to my collection in future, having borrowed it from the library.
The Amazon Product Page is here:
and a general news trail regarding the Jersey Care Home stories from the Daily Mail UK Website is here:
- CBG
Related posts:
- Feature: Jersey Care Homes Follow – up
- Review: Forgotten by Les Cummings
- Review: Why I Didn’t Say Anything By Sheldon Kennedy (2006)
- Review: The Church That Forgot Christ By Jimmy Breslin
- Review: Crossing The Line by Laura Robinson (1998)
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[...] in with my review of Robbie Garner’s Book Nobody Came, The Guardian has published a feature in its Weekend magazine section two years on from the start [...]
i wish back in them days i would of been an adult and could of came and ended your pain
i wish someone had come to help these boys and girls. Not one adult reported these crimes against the children. no one gave these kids a voice. I find it hard to wrap my head around what abuse these children endured. Its even harder to understand that it was allowed and continued for a lengthy period of time.
Reading about Robbie’s childhood made me realise how different my life is to theirs. Nobody should have to endure the sort of things that happened to him and the others at the care homes. The carers are supposed to care but they abused the trust put in them and played out sick, perverted fantasies.
I wish I could’ve been there to help him and the others. I wish they could’ve found a way to stop the pain before so many felt the need to take their life.
Have just finished reading Robbie’s book. I cannot comprehend how something like this was allowed to happen. These people were in a position of authority. It is totally disgusting and makes me very angry.
How very cruel, my heart goes out to anyone who suffered at the hands of these bullies and perverts.
i have just finised reading robbies story i cried 4 those children, how can we stop this from happening again and again,
I have just finished reading Nobody Came, I had to take breaks from it as it upset me so deeply. These children never had a childhood, it was unfairly robbed from them.
I had read about the Haut De La Garenne in newspapers, this was shocking and sickening. However to read about it through his experiences it left me physically sick.
For the nuns that treated the children the way they did, I hope they rot in hell, even that is too good for them.
The children would have had a better life living on the streets!
My husband and I are going through the process of fostering, every child deserves to be a child! I have a son myself and I would never ever give him that kind of life. As other parents will know, your child is your world and you would do anything to protect him/her.
Robbie my heart goes out to you, your a very brave man and I hope you are enjoying your life now. I have also read Toni Maguire’s books and found it even more alarming that most of the story was based in my own home town!
To Robbie and Davie, what brave brave people you are. I am so saddened after reading your book. So appreciative of my own childhood., and so mortified that there wasn’t anyone who could have helped you. I so wish, with all my heart, that as children of these horrific places, there would have been someone, anyone, whom you could have turned to. Unfortunately, it seems that those evil excuses for human beings will never get their punishments here on this earth. But I pray with all my heart Robbie, that they will be dealt with in the next world. With ALL my best wishes to you both.
An incredible true story – I bought the book yesterday to read while I was away on business. I started to read it around 9PM and could not put it down – I finished reading the book around 1.30AM – then I wept and wept – I have tears rolling down my face now as I write this
I hope all those responsible for these atrocities burn in hell for eternity
Robbie and Davie – my heart goes out to you and I wish you peace
I just finished your book last wk,it was very upsetting.I just wanted to climb into the pages and help you all.My heart was breaking thinking of what you all went through..If id been around before you went into that place,i would have looked after you..
i have read quite alot of true story books but i have never ever came across a book as heart breaking at this one. all the way through it i found my self clenching my fist and had tears in my eyes. robbie you are such an inspirational person and would like to say well done on your strength and determination you had on gettin your self and your lil brother davie out safe and sound. my full sympathy goes to you on the death of your brother its such a shame for him to get through it all and then that to happen. i am only 20 years old but this book has made me realise just how lucky i am to have lived the childhood i had and would love to be able to give some of my happiness too you! this book has really touched me and i will remmber it for as long as i live. i just hope we are at a day and ag now where children voices are heard and listened to to prevent this from still happening. all the best to you and your family i wish u all the happiness in the world xx
i have just finished the book and it took me longer to read than any other book! as it was so distressing. i kept having to put it down an then go back to it later. my grandmothers words before she died was that we live in hell now and i can honestly believe her words after reading this book .
i have read the book nobody came and was reduced to tears, to think you were going somewhere to be safe and looked after when you had already been through a traumatic time is disgusting. I cant believe what these girls and boys had to go through just to survive it breaks my heart, i have a young son and if i ever thought or knew he had been hurt like that it would kill me. the sheer thought of what happened makes me cry. how can you trust again? how do you feel safe? im just glad that you have been through some of the worst times but it has made you stronger and not destroyed like it has many others. my hope and love for the future
I never normally read books but my friend gave me the book nobady came…
I am lost for words with that book, I am so upset inside to even imagine wot went though your minds. your mother was a heartless bitch (sorry but she was) how could you just up and leave your 3 young children,
I carnt even imagine the pain you all went through.. i hope the lot of them wardens rot in hell, the lot of them had serious issues, how nasty can honestley some people be.. IT WAS THEM THAT NEEDED TO BE PUT
INTO A MENTAL INSTITUTE, OR EVEN GIVEN SUCH PAIN THAT THEY KILLED THEMSELVES..
MY HEART GOES OUT TO ALL OF YOU ROBBIE,DAVIE THE LITTLE GIRL AND R.I.P JOHN….
ALSO TO THE OTHER CHILDREN THAT WENT THROUGH IT ALL X