Books like Girl alone by Cathy Glass

Eighteen‑year‑old Susanna Kaysen is admitted to McLean Hospital in 1967, where she documents life in the psychiatric ward, exploring mental illness, recovery, and the cultural landscape of the late 1960s.

A moving true account of Donna’s journey from abuse and rejection to finding safety in foster care, illuminating the challenges and resilience of abused children.

Soul shattering

Justin was five years old; his brothers two and three. Their mother a heroin addict, had left them alone again. Later that day after trying to burn down the family home, Justin was taken into care. Justin was taken into care at the age of five after deliberating burning down his family home. Six years on, after 20 failed placements, Justin arrives at Casey's home. Casey and her husband Mike are specialist foster carers. They practice a new style of foster care that focuses on modifying the behavior of profoundly damaged children. They are Justin's last hope, and it quickly becomes clear that they are facing a big challenge. Try as they might to make him welcome, he seems determined to strip his life of all the comforts they bring him, violently lashing out at schoolmates and family and throwing any affection they offer him back in their faces. After a childhood filled with hurt and rejection, Justin simply doesn't want to know. But as it soon emerges, this is only the tip of a chilling iceberg. A visit to Justin's mother on Boxing Day reveals that there are some very dark underlying problems that Justin has never spoken about. As the full picture becomes clearer, and the horrific truth of Justin's early life is revealed, Casey and her family finally start to understand the pain he has suffered...

Dawn’s life is a compelling biography of a girl who survived a traumatic childhood in foster care, ultimately finding hope and resilience.

Regina Calcaterra and her four siblings navigated multiple foster homes and homelessness on Long Island, yet she forged a path to reunify her family and pursue the American dream.

This is the moving story of Jeanette Roberts, a young London girl who survived appalling abuse in her own childhood, and so determined to give other children in the same position the love and care she had been denied. A chance meeting with a small boy she caught stealing led to a life-long commitment to a steady stream of disturbed, abused and handicapped children whom everyone else had turned away. By becoming their beloved 'Mum', Jeanette has been able to transform their lives, giving them the protection they so desperately need.

Mandy returns to her childhood home after learning her beloved Grandpa is dying, and uncovers shocking family secrets that explain why the house was once abandoned.