Critics applaud Katharine Quarmby’s harrowing and ground breaking first adult book Scapegoat

As The Sunday Times on 13 June 2011 describes in its review, ‘What care? What community? Scapegoat is a shocking story of how the most vulnerable among us are let down by the UK authorities.  Further, the review goes on to say. ‘this is a stomach turning book but it must be read.’

Taking four years to research and write, Scapegoat, as Katharine’s press release said, ‘is the first book to be published in the UK about crimes against disabled people. It looks behind the headlines to trace the history of our discomfort with disabled people, from Greek and Roman culture, through the Industrial Revolution and the origins of Britain’s asylum system to the eugenics movement and the Holocaust, the rise of the disability rights movement and the unintended consequences of the move towards community care.

Combining fascinating examples from history with tenacious investigation, deploying evidence obtained through freedom of information requests, as well as powerful first person interviews with bereaved families, senior investigating officers, prosecutors and disabled victims, Scapegoat will change the way people think about disability – and how we treat disabled people.’

Katharine tells Buzzaboutbooks: “This was a very hard book to research and write, but I hope that it will help change attitudes towards disabled people in the UK. Far too many disabled people have been treated as second class citizens, fit to be mocked, attacked, and, in some cases I document in the book, tortured and murdered. This has to stop.”

She adds: “It’s sometimes strange to write children’s books in parallel with journalism for adults, but both parts of my writing career are equally important to me. What I’d like to do now is write something for younger children about diversity and bullying in schools – for many disabled children have a miserable time in schools – and in two of the cases I write about in the book, former school-mates bullied their victims both in school, and out of school – and, in one case, went on to murder the victim.”

You can buy it here.