'That night I lay in my new bed and the pain came. I thought about Irene. I would find her again. I had to.'Alan and Irene first met in a cold, regimented children's home when he was seven and she was nine. Both had lost their mothers when they were very young. When a car drew up outside the Home, Alan was staring out of the window, and when he saw the little girl step out onto the pavement, he knew, in that instant, that she was someone special.Over the next year the children were inseparable. But close friendships weren't encouraged and when theirs was discovered Alan was sent away without any explanation and no goodbye. He disappeared abruptly from Irene's life.Not Without You contains painful memories of loneliness, cruelty and a total lack of empathy with what it means to be young. But in this astonishing story, two children demonstrate the ultimate truth: that love will always find a way.