THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERDr Jessica Taylor grew up on a council estate where brutality and coercion were normalised and where substance abuse was a daytoday occurrence. Now one of the UKs most spirited advocates for womens rights and a leading chartered psychologist helping women and girls subjected to violence and trauma Jessica shares her own personal journey for the very first time.Told through a series of absorbing vignettes spanning from her childhood days to gaining her PhD in forensic psychology Underclass is a memoir about extraordinary strength the complexities of belonging and finding your power even when it feels as though the world is against you. Do you bend to fit in or do you accept that you will always stand out Do you run away from your roots or love them for making you who you are Do you fade into mediocrity or do you change the worldTaylor recounts with dark humour and unflinching detail the various lives shes lived covering the violence suffered at the hands of her abusers the realities of becoming a mother in her teenage years coming to terms with her sexuality putting herself through university and overcoming underhand discrimination at work. She poignantly delves into both the classist and misogynistic double standards that she has faced throughout her life whether she was waking up on a roundabout by the estate or chairing a parliamentary conference. You can take the girl out of the council estate but you cant take the council estate out of the girl. Especially when it made her who she is today.The result is deeply moving searingly honest horribly funny and above all unforgettable a memoir that stays with you long after youve turned the last page.