Maria's dad was a pimp, living in a world of thieves and street–walkers. Her mother, tiring of turning tricks for her husband, walked out leaving the children in his chaotic, violent and sometimes cruel care. By the age of nine, Maria's father was abusing her and getting a prostitute friend to dress her up in stockings and make–up. By the time she was fourteen he was selling her on the streets of the red light district in Norwich.
Despite everything Maria still loved her swaggering and sometimes charming father and found it hard to sort out her own feelings. At fifteen she ran away to King's Cross with an older lover who turned out to be just another pimp. Furious at losing a nice little earner her father involved the police and both he and the other man were jailed for living off Maria's immoral earnings and having sex with a minor. Only then could Maria escape her traumatic childhood and follow her dream of becoming a mother.
