Don’t Let Her See Me Cry: A Mother’s Story

Facing 15 years in prison, the longest drug-related sentence ever meted out to a woman in Victoria, Helen Barnacle discovered she was to become a mother.

It was the last thing she wanted. But this tiny helpless being gave her a new lease on life-and a reason to hope. She became the first woman allowed to keep her baby in jail beyond the age of one.

But three years later she had to make the hardest decision of her life: to let her daughter go.

DON’T LET HER SEE ME CRY is the powerful and moving account of one woman’s remarkable journey-from a hopeless young heroin addict facing prison with a new baby, to successful psychologist, drug counsellor, prison reform campaigner and, most importantly, mother and best friend to Ali, the daughter who gave her the courage and determination to survive.