Some Justice – a memoir of seeking truth and finding freedom.
What happens when a child reports? When a community closes down? When a family can’t cope?
About the book
Millions of women avoid pursuing justice. This true story sheds light on why.
At 53 Cathy Byrne reported to police that in the 1980s, she was groomed and sexually abused by a teacher from the age of 13.
The aftershocks were devastating. Byrne's visceral, deeply personal account details the intense mental and emotional stress of processing long-repressed trauma while also navigating family and community backlash and the exhausting victim-work imposed by the justice system.
This rare insider story illuminates the challenges survivors face in a culture still confused about consent, the rights of children and the pervasiveness of rape myths. It shows the courage needed and the changes required for victim-survivors to get some justice, and to realise that fear is a trap that only hope can dissolve.
Why Read it?
Some Justice is for fans of powerful, life-affirming memoirs.
It echoes the legal insight of Bri Lee’s EggShell Skull and Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie. It explores the difficulties of: searching for justice; overcoming family trauma, finding resilience and hope, and it deeply examines both the challenges faced by survivors of child sexual abuse and the power of EMDR therapy. Ultimately it is a story that recognises that silence is a lie and that, despite the odds, we can discover how to glimpse and keep hold of joy.
As the author fights for her child-truth to be heard, she explores family dysfunction alongside Vicki Laveau-Harvie’s The Erratics and Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me. In synch with Gina Chick’s We Are the Stars, Some Justice shows the healing power of the natural world.
Reader reviews
What readers are saying.
"Urgent, raw and truly compelling. Essential to understand the harm that child sexual abuse causes … mitigated only by the courage and resilience of survivors."
Michael Bradley
Grace Tame’s lawyer
"Fantastic! A beautifully written story of resilience."
Edwina Shaw
Author of Dear Madman
"A compelling story of abuse and trauma that shows the resilience of the human spirit. Byrne’s consummate writing style had me walking beside her, savouring every word. Courageous and inspiring story."
Gay M. Liddington
Author of Will I ever be who I am? – from broken to brave· Verified
"A powerfully written, compelling and important story of survival, chronicling the emotional, social and ethical challenges of navigating the justice system."
Chris Champion
Editor, Forty South Tasmania
Who this book is for
If any of this sounds like you — keep reading.
About the author
Cathy Byrne
Dr Cathy Byrne is an author and Child Sexual Abuse Survivor advocate. Previously an academic, she wrote for The Conversation and various journals, and presented at the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Ethics in Primary Schools. Her first book, Religion in Secular Education; what in heaven’s name are we teaching our children?, was published by Brill (2013).
She is also known for her support of women in surfing. Some Justice is her first work of memoir. The manuscript was awarded the Australian Society of Authors and Arts Tasmania 2025 Writers and Illustrators Mentorship for non-fiction.
Stop performing.
Start becoming.
Some Justice is available through clever bookstores and online retail outlets. Purchase
For distribution information, email info@ashwoodpublishing.com.au
The work of the bathus draws strength from the powerful country of Lutruwita/Tasmania. The author acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional owners and their continuing custodianship of this beautiful and sacred place.
The problem
Australia is a world ‘worst offender’ in child sexual abuse and the world's largest consumer of childsex pornography.
1
Every fourth Australian child
will suffer the long-term impacts of child sexual abuse and one in ten Australian men have sexually offended against children.
2
People often blame the child-victim,
especially girls. But a child cannot consent.
3
This cultural blind spot is costly
for our health services, mental health support networks and court systems.
Who this book is for
If any of this sounds like you — keep reading.
- CSA victim survivors and their families
- Justice and legal professionals
- Education workers
- All parents
Some Justice
By Cathy Byrne. Published 2026.
Contact Cathy Byrne
author@cathybyrne.com.au
© 2026 Bathus Publishing (23544178713). All rights reserved.
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