Hope M. Chema, M.D.
"As I read chapter after chapter, I felt such pain for that little girl."


Madelaine Pinkus Rohn, Ph.D., LCSW
This book...gives the reader a window into the experience of a child, and the suffering that was relentlessly endured."


Barbara Parks, R.N.
"Charred Souls is a powerful, heart-wrenching account of the horrendous emotional and physical abuse endured by Trena Cole..."


Book Description
Charred Souls describes the childhood of one child and her 6 siblings as they grew up in a family that used child abuse as a source of entertainment. In her book, she describes the methods of intimidation, torture and isolation used to keep the children from seeking help from others. It also describes how, since much of the extended family practiced the same type of abusive behavior, the children assumed the whole world lived this way. This family, while they may have been reported as potential child abusers, were never charged or prosecuted despite the atrocious, sadistic torture they subjected their young children to. Trena, the oldest child, became the parental role model, nurturer and caretaker for the younger children from the age of five, never having anyone to nurture or care for her.


From the Publisher
Charred Souls describes the childhood of one child and her six siblings as they grew up in a family that used child abuse as a source of entertainment. In her book, Trena Cole describes the methods of intimidation, torture and isolation used to keep the children from seeking help from others. It also describes how, since much of the extended family practiced the same type of abusive behavior, the children assumed the whole world lived this way. This family, while they may have been reported as potential child abusers, were never charged or prosecuted despite the atrocious, sadistic torture they subjected their young children to. Trena, the oldest child, became the parental role model, nurturer and caretaker for the younger children from the age of five, never having anyone to nurture or care for her.


From the Author
"Charred Souls is a story ... about seven beautiful babies who semed to have been bred for the sole purpose of being used as game pieces for twisted, sadistic, and degrading games ... .The verbal abuse they endured was as crippling emotionally as the physical abuse was painful ... .The language is raw, ugly and harsh, just as it was screamed at the children until they became old enough to escape the madness."


About the Author
Trena Cole was born in the 1950’s. She overcame the severe, unrelenting abuse she was subjected to as a child to become a successful businesswoman and a nurturing mother. At the urging of her therapist she wrote this accounting of her heartbreaking childhood. Her hope is that others who have been abused will not feel so isolated and that those who are associated with abused children will gain some insight into why they have difficulty trusting and loving. It is also her goal to make more people aware of the obscure "symptoms" of child abuse in an effort to protect others from suffering this fate.

SYNOPSIS

Charred Souls describes the childhood of one child and her six siblings as they grew up in a family that used child abuse as a source of entertainment. In her book, Trena Cole describes the methods of intimidation, torture and isolation used to keep the children from seeking help from others. It also describes how, since much of the extended family practiced the same type of abusive behavior, the children assumed the whole world lived this way. This family, while they may have been reported as potential child abusers, were never charged or prosecuted despite the atrocious, sadistic torture they subjected their young children to. Trena, the oldest child, became the parental role model, nurturer and caretaker for the younger children from the age of five, never having anyone to nurture or care for her.