What happens when you so deeply believe something you were told as a child that it becomes the driving force behind almost every thought, feeling and action for the rest of your life – until you decide to take complete control and change your life entirely? For decades, Carolyn Hobdey believed she was ‘trouble’ and if she wasn’t ‘nicer’ she’d spend her days alone and unloved.  

All The Tw*ts I Met Along The Way tells Carolyn’s tales of crappy boyfriends, sickening sexual encounters, manipulative men, love triangles, unsupportive and unsupported medical diagnoses… and that’s just in the first few pages. From porn-addicted boyfriends who go from fitties to owners of ‘dad bods,’ to car crashes and boob jobs. Marriage to a lover who became more like a brother (and who came out as gay after their 15 year relationship) and later a relationship with a man and his ‘ready-made family’ that exposes a damaging case of coercive control and narcissism. Carolyn’s story exposes the unrelenting pull of the child-parent relationship – even in adulthood – and all the messiness, self-esteem issues and confusion that can cause. As she writes, “I didn’t want to be the trouble-maker, the one to cause my parents concern, anymore.”