Unbeaten

By: Kim Woodburn

Narrated by: Kim Woodburn

Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

For Kim Woodburn finding fame in her 60s in the smash hit television series How Clean is Your House? with fellow dust-buster Aggie Mackenzie is like living a fairy tale. Often she has simply wished that she had never been born, for Kim has overcome horrific emotional and physical abuse both at the hands of her alcoholic mother and her philandering, sexually abusive father. In her brave and revealing story Kim's memories of growing up are not of love and cuddles, but of beatings and random cruelty.

Shuttled between the brutal houses of her warring parents, a succession of miserable children's homes and a grim convent - Kim's past has cast a long shadow over her life.

But just before her 16th birthday she finally made her escape. It has taken decades of hard work, and a wonderfully happy marriage to conquer depression but now she has emerged unbowed and unbeaten as Britain's Queen of Clean.

©2006 Kim Woodburn (P)2006 Hodder and Stoughton Audiobooks

Wonderful

I found this audiobook very easy to listen to and certainly inspiring... Definitely worth the time and money.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great book

I loved Kim's tale about her life. it showed me life you are not always in charge of what happened to you. But Kim didn't sit back and cry over her neglect and abuse that was done to her, instead she got up dusted off the dirt life gave her, and she made an amazing life for herself.

Inspirational

This book was short enough to be read comfortably in one weekend. Kim reads it in the manner you would expect, to the point with no nonsense, and I think that enhances the mood of the story. She doesn't use flowery or high brow words, she doesn't try to be something she isn't. It's tragic and it's inspirational. Most people would have crumbled at a fraction of Kim's nightmares yet she troops on into adulthood with amazing stoicism. It's not cheerful but it should have you feeling that the human spirit is stronger than you think.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Tear jerker!

I love Kim’s voice anyway so really enjoyed her reading. Very shocked and quite angered at times to hear of the difficult experiences she had as a youngster, but she recounts these very succinctly, honestly and gracefully. It was very moving and often inspiring. Would have liked to have heard more in fact.

Dreadful

As Kim would say what a load of old tosh! I don’t take away the brutality of her childhood tho! But the book was total drivel

Loved it and the fact it was read by the author.<br />

I can thoroughly recommend it. Enjoyed it all, although very sad in some parts. But the girl came good in the end.

brilliant read poor lady

omg what this lady went through is awful
well worth the read but have your tissues ready

Strong lady

Would you consider the audio edition of Unbeaten to be better than the print version?

I found Kim's voice a little hard on the ears, but I'm pleased I listened to, rather than read the book.

What did you like best about this story?

How Kim was able to get back up, dust herself off and deal with everything she had thrown at her.

What about Kim Woodburn’s performance did you like?

A great deal of emotion was in her performance.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Having a world of love from my mum, I was heartbroken to hear how cruel and wicked her mum was. Her family was cold and chose to turn a blind eye on so many things. I was moved to tears when Kim spoke of her baby, you could hear the emotion in her voice.

Heartbreaking

Got to say Kim does get my back up at times but know I feel I know where she is coming from and never will I thing a negative thought about her again xxxx

Unbelievable

Easy to listen to. Unbelievably horrible life story with a happy ending, I had no idea she was from my home town of Portsmouth which made it all the more interesting.

Didn’t meet my expectations...

Kim’s been let down at the hands of a bad ghost writer. There’s no doubt she has a harrowing tale to tell but it seems disjointed - rushed in places and slow in others. No doubt it’s all truths but she should have been supported better by the publisher. Kudos for the honesty, but not for much else. Sorry Kim! I hope it makes you a ‘bob or two’ you truly deserve every penny.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful