Recommended Books

Five books we’ve read, trust, and think are worth your time.

Why these three

Every book on this list has earned its place — read, trusted, and recommended because it says something we wish more people understood about coercive control, parental alienation, and the long road back from it. We’re adding to this list slowly, and only ever with titles we’d hand to a friend.

Specially Selected
Recommended Reading
Snake & Dog book cover
Parental Alienation — Children, Adults & Schools
Snake & Dog
Love & Boundaries
by Virgil C. Andrei
Snake & Dog is a lyrical story about a warm-hearted Dog who is drawn to a Snake whose charm hides something colder. Around them, a small animal cast plays out roles we recognise everywhere — the confused bystander, the accuser, the wise mentor, the quiet observer — as Dog learns, gently and in rhyme, to tell real love from love that only looks that way. Written for children finding their footing and adults still finding theirs, it turns big ideas about awareness and boundaries into something warm, safe, and easy to sit with.
Best for: parents, children, schools, playgroups, home educated families, survivors
Silent Abuse book cover
Healing After Trauma — Talking About the Abuse
Silent Abuse
A Spiritual Journey to Freedom
by Sally Jayne
Silent Abuse is Sally Jayne’s first-person account of leaving a twenty-year relationship after recognising two decades of quiet psychological harm. Guided by faith and a series of synchronicities she couldn’t ignore, she describes the fear of starting over — middle-aged, jobless, and in a country where she didn’t speak the language — and the freedom that followed. Written as a spiritual journey rather than a clinical one, it sits with the reader in that leap of faith, and in what becomes possible on the other side of it, one ordinary, sun-lit day at a time.
Best for: survivors ready to talk about what happened, anyone drawn to a faith-led path to healing
Breathing Room book cover
Parental Alienation — Grief, Hope & Moving Forward
Breathing Room
The Alienated Parent’s Space for Discovering New Purpose, Sustaining Hope, & Navigating Grief with Integrity
by L.D. Belding
Breathing Room, part of L.D. Belding’s Psychic Oxygen series, is written specifically for the alienated parent — a space to step back from the fight for contact and ask what comes next. It’s about discovering new purpose, sustaining hope, and navigating the grief of an alienated relationship without losing your integrity along the way.
Best for: alienated parents looking for space to grieve, find new purpose, and hold on to hope while the fight for contact continues

If you are in immediate danger, call 999.

PACW Support Line: 0333 242 5348 | National Domestic Abuse Helpline (women): 0808 2000 247 (free, 24 hours)  |  Men’s Advice Line: 0808 801 0327 | Galop (LGBTQ+) 0800 999 5428 | Samaritans: 116 123 | NHS 111 |  Victim Support 08 08 16 89 111

USA — 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline | National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233