How far do you have to travel to shake of the bruises of the past? This is an uncomfortable book but James Marrelli stays clear of self indulgence and delivers an astounding story of the plight of one boy’s struggle with a violent father. Jim’s tale is one of both despair and hope as he tries to find solace in friends and family but always seems destined to live in the shadow of a powerful and violent man. He gives a harrowing account of the difficulties of growing up in world where the father casts a shadow of fear that reaches well into Jim’s adult life, destroying relationships and taking him to the point attempting to take his own life. But ultimately Walking on Eggshells is a story of hope and inner strength and it is this that separates this book from the many that have tried in the past to bring these subjects into the harsh glare of daylight. The place these evil men can be confronted and their stories exposed. A brave and unnerving book.