Not the Perfect Victim: A Memoir of Surviving Sexual Violence, a Late Autism Diagnosis, and the Fight for Justice

He stole my voice. This is what it took to get it back.

Narrated by the author. Told in her own voice.

First published in 2025.

In 2006, one night changed everything.

At nineteen, a violent trauma shattered Anna Kahill’s sense of safety and left her carrying the truth alone for more than a decade. Grief and motherhood shaped the years that followed, as the memories she had buried gradually resurfaced. A later diagnosis of autism and PTSD reframed what she had lived through — and why she had remained silent for so long.

Not the Perfect Victim is an unflinching account of survival and of confronting a justice system where not every case makes it to court. With clarity and control, Anna exposes the expectations placed on traumatised and neurodivergent women — and the silence imposed on those who do not fit the “perfect victim” mould.

Told with restraint yet unflinching honesty, this memoir gives voice to experiences rarely heard — stories without verdicts, headlines, or closure.

As featured in The Irish News, The Belfast Telegraph, Books Ireland, Women Writers, Writing.ie, Armagh I, and The Newry Democrat.

For readers of:

Know My Name — Chanel Miller

What My Bones Know — Stephanie Foo

The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk

A memoir that refuses silence — and shows what it takes to reclaim your life.

© 2026 The Space Between Press (Lydbog): 9781068290343

Udgivelsesdato

Lydbog: 25. april 2026