I'm Fine (A True Story of Trust, Betrayal and Criminal Exploitation) - 9781785634550

“Incredibly powerful.” — Diriye Osman

In 2024, a gay youth leader was sentenced to 22 years in prison. One of his victims explains why it took him two decades to report the abuse.

In 1996, at the age of fourteen, Richard Hall met a man who would change his life forever. Twenty-five years later, he called the police. As a result, that man was jailed for twenty-two years.

This is the story of everything that happened before the police became involved: how a teenage boy, bullied at school for being gay, stepped into a world he believed would be safe—one he was far too inexperienced to navigate. In his naïveté, he thought what followed was normal, or somehow his fault.

In a vivid, compulsively readable account, Hall writes with unnerving honesty—and moments of unexpected humor—about the year of his childhood when the attention of older admirers went to his head, with devastating consequences that followed him into adulthood.

I’m Fine is not only the deeply moving story of one confused boy’s private hell; it is also a stark warning about predators who are able to operate with the impunity granted by “community” status.