It is the mid-1960s in Sydney, Australia, and Stacey is a young girl who has been raised by a single mother who is physically abusive and allows her doctor boyfriend to sexually abuse her daughter to please him. Shortly after Stacey turns eleven, she suddenly fights back, beating her mother, then escaping from her home to find refuge on the streets. But in a life where Stacey has learned to trust no one, how will she handle surviving on her own in neighborhoods with gangs, prostitution, and pimps. This is a personal story of the author looking back forty years at the darkest time of her life. It is a tough tale told through a very jaded personal perspective, which may turn some readers off at the horrific and seemingly hopeless details. Even though the time frame is in the sixties, there were some moments when I wondered about the accuracy of Stacey’s memory, as she seemed to attain a collection of some items and meals early with a small amount of money, but the inner expressions of her trust and defensive attitudes provided a very interesting perspective into the mindset of someone facing this trial. Her gumption at rejecting a darker, more submissive path against the pressure surrounding her provides a tinge of hope regarding her circumstances. It was a strong reflective story. ( )

Very upsetting start with abuse that is beyond belief! But I purchased it so I kept reading and I was glad I did, I couldn't put it down I was engrossed in her life and how she survived. I wanted to keep reading, hope she continues with the story. ( )

Empty Chairs is a shocking and extraordinary account of Stacey Danson's survival from the most harrowing sexual and physical abuse she was subjected to from the age of three by her mother and a succession of men. Yet there's an absence of self-pity in the recounting, Stacey tell it as it is, with emotional honesty and simplicity, making it all the more poignant. But Stacey is a survivor. We see the emergence of her indomitable spirit which helps her escape from her intolerable situation. At the tender age of eleven she runs away and the rest of this astounding autobiography is given over to her survival on the streets where she arms herself with a knife and a few other essentials, including a radio, and earns herself a street name - Sassy Girl or Sassy. She lives from day to day, night to night, in cliff recesses, doorways, parks, beach huts and dock warehouses, surviving on old bruised fruit from the market and water from toilet blocks, or, when she can, food and drink from Paulie's cafe where the pimps and 'working girls' hang out. It would have been so easy for someone so young and vulnerable and desperate as Stacey to have ended up in prostitution, like the other girls at Paulie's cafe, but in spite of the growing menace and eventual abuse and violence Stacey is subjected to, she resists. She's made a promise to herself that she won't allow her body to be prostituted so she can 'keep mind and body intact'. We feel her exhaustion and fear as she is hounded from place to place with threats from predators or as a result of witnessing torture or murder. In spite of her constant references to her age, I had to keep pinching yourself to remember that I was reading the account of an eleven-year-old girl, so old is the head on her shoulders. Her intuition and outspokenness are undoubtedly her saviour. At the end of the book, we just begin to see glimpses of the next phase of Stacey's life and I think - I hope - this is a taster for her next book as I for one want to see what happens next on her incredible journey from then to now. ( )

The writing is lacking, but the author never claimed to be a writer, only that she had a story to tell. What a story she has to tell! It will break your heart, scare you, and make you angry. Stacey endures abuse that NO one should ever have to live through. Amazingly she does. She begins living on the street at age 11. You will wonder why not very many stepped up to help her. I truly believe that it is a miracle that she lived through it all. I would have liked to have known the outcome of her story, and the stories of her friends. The story ends in the 60's so maybe there is a sequel out there. If there is I want to read it. ( )

This review is also on my blog http://onlectus.blogspot.com/2012/07/empty-chairs-by-stacey-danson.htmlThis book is not for the faint of heart. I was taken aback since the very third paragraph. I have read a couple of books on this topic but never felt what I felt while reading this book. I was enraged and not sure at whom (Gwen or the perverts?).If you can stomach reading about a 5-year old girl being abused (from all sides and forms) then by all means read the book. But if the very thought of child molestation infuriates and disgusts you, then just don’t.I literally had to read most sentences thrice to make sure that what I was reading was actually written. “He burnt the inside of my vagina with a cigarette butt…” Yes, that is what’s going on in this story. The language is real, without the euphemisms of words, and sometimes cruel.At age 11 she ran away and lived on the streets. How does an 11-year old girl survive on her own? Well, read the book.This book reminds of “Living dead girl” as regards the degradation of a young soul, however Danson’s story is real and Scott’s is fictional.Some Amazon reviewers gave one star to the book because “it has not ending.” Well, it does have an ending; I just don’t know how you missed it. If you are reading a book and all it has is about 10 pages left to end…, I think that is a pretty good indicator that the story is about to finish, and soon. It didn’t finish the way you expected? Well, that it’s a different story. But that is salvaged with “Faint Echoes of Laughter” Danson’s second book.Readers wanted to know what happened to Gwen and her friends and how she kept on. The answer is here. ( )