What happens when a girl tries to grow up in a world where everyone wants her to remain a child? Hayley Mills' teenage decade in Hollywood produced some of the era's greatest coming-of-age family movies: classics like Pollyanna, The Parent Trap and In Search of the Castaways, and in Britain the acclaimed Whistle Down the Wind. These films made Hayley a genuine teen idol and a household name. Now and for the first time, Hayley reveals the truth of her own coming-of-age story, in her own words - a story of incredible twists of fate and fortune, but also mismanagement, bankruptcy, family crisis and dislocation. Told with characteristic warmth, honesty and humour, Hayley takes us back in time to a bygone era, charting a journey from her carefree childhood innocence in post-war Britain, growing up in the shadow of her famous theatrical family, to being propelled into the Technicolor boomtown of 1960s Hollywood, where she is mentored to stardom by Walt Disney himself.

What happens when a girl tries to grow up in a world where everyone wants her to remain a child?

Hayley Mills’s teenage decade in Hollywood produced some of the era’s greatest family movies: classics like Pollyanna, The Parent Trap and In Search of the Castaways, and in Britain the acclaimed Whistle Down the Wind. Overnight, Hayley became a teen idol and a household name.

In Forever Young Hayley takes us back to a bygone era, charting a journey from her carefree childhood in post-war Britain, growing up in the shadow of her famous theatrical family, to being propelled into the Technicolor boomtown of 1960s Hollywood, where she was mentored to stardom by Walt Disney himself. With characteristic warmth, honesty and humour, Hayley finally shares her own coming-of-age story – a tale of incredible twists of fate and fortune.

"My neck prickled with heat and, before I had time to analyze the feeling, bony fingers wrapped my arms in a vice. I screamed. I didn't think I'd ever screamed that loud before in my life. It was a long, terrified sound that nearly ripped me in half. I fought the hands that tried to restrain me and was able to turn just enough to see it was another hooded figure, their hood too low and dark to discern a face." Laila Benett was perfectly content with her life. She had a loving mother and sister, an amazing best friend and an uncomplicated life. But something changed. Now, she is being stalked by creatures in the night. Her sister has fallen ill, tearing her family apart. Her best friend is missing and she's stuck in the middle of a deadly love triangle. Laila meets Christopher, a seemingly easy-going, yet mysterious teenager. As he drags her deeper into a world she wants no part in, her life continues to be put into jeopardy and she fights to find out Christopher's dark secret while battling the confusing attraction she feels towards him. In her quest to uncover Christopher's secrets, she meets Henry, a stranger who looks familiar and knows too much about her. She continues her search and her fight to return her life to normal, but deep down she knows: things will never be the same again.