The difficulty of writing about child abuse

I struggled to write a book where the main character is a victim of abuse. I didn't want it to be graphic yet wanted the reader to understand the terror he felt and the confusion living with an alcoholic father. I also wanted the reader to see that this boy was wise beyond his years and through his own inner strength and imagination, he could beat the odds.

Recently, I received this 5-star review and felt that this reader captured much of what I was hoping to achieve:

"A brilliant and surreal read that starts normally enough. A boy lives in rough conditions but his strong spirit and imagination allow him to persevere and prosper. Does he have magic? It's hard to tell, and that adds a Bridge to Terabithian element to the prose. I love that it made me first think of my own childhood, then gripped me with the terror of violence and the wonder of childhood magic."

In my second book in the series, though the story is very different from She Named Me Wolf, the soul is the same one that lived in the body of Wolf. The samurai warrior Junsaku is another incarnation of the spirit of the boy, and Junsaku has his own set of life adventures as he travels the road to enlightenment.