'At the lowest moment in my life, I stood at the gates of hell. I saw what it was like. I can never, ever go back there again.'

When Laura Walsh walked into her four-month-old daughter's bedroom, she was confronted with a mother's worst nightmare. Her beautiful baby was dead in her cot. This tragedy marked the beginning of Laura's journey of self-destruction. She became addicted to painkillers and alcohol, her marriage failed and she lost her house and alienated her friends and family.

Lying and stealing to acquire tablets and booze, Laura spent several desperate years in the wilderness, years in which her two remaining children had to watch their mum become a sordid shadow of the woman they loved. She was ashamed but unable to find the strength to fight back - until one Christmas when her addictions finally threatened to kill her.

Ashamed is the inspirational account of how Laura found the strength to step back from hell, launch a successful business and become a mother to her children once again.