Stolen happiness

Vicky Bassett, 44

Arriving home from school, I headed upstairs to my room and curled up in bed with a Roald Dahl book.

It was 1982 and I was just 6 years old.

Nobody asked how my day was, what I wanted for tea.

See, my family had never been close.

No days out or holidays.

Playing games with my siblings was a rare event.

And my parents, Stephen, then 26, and my mum, then 36, had a turbulent relationship.

My mum was shy and reserved.

And though Dad