A PURBECK author has seen great success with her memoir after it became an international bestseller just one month after it was published.

“Historic”: The True Legacy of Childhood Sport – The Book Every Parent Needs to Read, written by Emma Webb in Studland, tells the story of systemic abuse in childhood sport that affected a classroom of girls in Dorset, including Emma herself, during the mid-1970s.

The explosive memoir-exposé has achieved unprecedented global success, dominating bestseller charts across three continents while revealing how Olympic status became “weapons of mass deception” enabling systematic child abuse across decades.

It centres on the devastating true story of how a five-year-old girl was handed over by her parents to Olympians Brian and Monica Phelps in Dorset in the 1970s.

What should have been an honour became a nightmare spanning over a decade.

The book reveals how a miscarriage of justice in 1996 unleashed a known child sex predator on thousands of children, why Jimmy Savile and Brian Phelps operated for over a decade in the same BBC shadows with impunity, how Olympic and Commonwealth medals became shields against accountability and why Britain’s judicial system systematically fails women and children.

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The story is now being made into a film.

“We’re women in midlife now, finding each other and reclaiming our voices after decades of silence,” Emma said.

“The story briefly appeared in global news in 2008 and 2023, but this is the first time it’s ever been fully told.”

She added: “It’s both one of Dorset’s darkest stories and a testament to the healing power of our beautiful landscape and community.”

Since its recent release across 15 countries, Historic has achieved bestseller status in the USA, UK, and Australia across multiple categories including true crime, sports biographies, and personal health.

“It was suggested that it be entered in the memoir section for acclaimed Bridport Prize and is now being made into a film which I hope will bring work to the county as some of the filming would obviously be here,” Emma said.

Historic can be purchased online.