One Child by Torey Hayden

Sheila is an amazing child in many respects. The reader will be amazed that such a young child can be so destructive. However, Sheila's destructive tendencies are the result of a painful life that should be equally amazing to the reader. Sheila has been abandoned without explanation by her mother, her father regularly whips her, and her uncle cuts her vagina with a knife while molesting her. The fact that Sheila is not more destructive is amazing given the things she has suffered. At the same time, the reader slowly learns that Sheila is a genius. She can read, despite not being taught, and recognizes words on the middle school level. Sheila's gifted ability has gone unnoticed because the emphasis has always been on her bad behavior.

As the story evolves, Sheila moves from being a destructive little girl into the gifted child that she is. Sheila slowly learns to trust Torey. Torey works patiently with Sheila to clean her up, both physically and emotionally. Although Torey is not able to completely heal all of Sheila's wounds, Sheila does learn that not everyone is bad. She can love someone and have them leave her without it being a bad thing.