Professor Katriona O'Sullivan

But I know that there was a period when I experienced abuse and I, you know, I don't want anyone to be triggered listening.

But there was a connection that I had to my siblings and there was a hope that I had about what life was going to be despite what was happening in my home that was taken from me when I first experienced abuse as a child.

That was the end.

I think it transformed me.

It didn't even just take hope.

It actually, it's like a girl existed before that, like who had freedom.

Like I imagine childhood as being like freedom in your body, Ray, you know, running, biking.

Now I was robbing and running and biking and,

You know, doing things that you shouldn't probably be doing as a child.

But there was still like a naivety to it and a freedom to it, even though doing things that other children weren't doing and you shouldn't do.

So like I'd still be robbing from the shop, you know, like so there was end of childhood if you think about it as being this really innocent place.

But I think the freedom that comes with childhood like.

The imagination, the idea that something magical might happen, that there's goodness there that was just completely gone.

So there's a girl before and a girl after.

And just to say, you know, Ray, in my book, I only talk about one incident.

Like I actually experienced abuse from a number of different people.

I didn't write about it in Poor.

I have written about it in my new book.

But like it wasn't just that one incident.

I only talked about it once in Poor or the one person because I actually didn't want Poor to be a complete poverty porn story and for people to turn away from it.