Serpent Child is the autobiography of Patricia Riley. It describes the life of a child of seperated parents in post war Britain at a time when children were still 'seen but not heard' and when even for married parents children were preferably seen somewhere else. Many children were hurried off to boarding schools, even at a very tender age; and, if they were noticed at all, children could become pawns in harmful, even dangerous parental war games. In an enlightening, at times humorous, and important book, Pat describes a past that is not always past. 'Children were once viewed as property for the most powerful parent usually the father. Much of the history of family law is the history of the emancipation of children. 'High Court judge Mrs Justice Parker once remarked how children were too frequently weaponised