Surviving Domestic Violence: Voices of Women Who Broke Free - Softcover

"Early in the marriage, I was too immature to recognize that damage could occur emotionally to my son. But as Bobby got older, and I matured, then I knew I didn't want him to be exposed to any more of this. So my job was to find a way to get free. And then I just started plotting, and biding my time till I was secure enough to let the plan unfold.' Carolee Curtis, Hospital Administrator "My mother said, Judy, he has an invisible whip that he's just whipping you with all the time.' I thought, you know, he has whipped me enough. I am not going to allow him to whip me any more." Judy North, First-Grade Teacher. "When I woke up in the hospital, I knew that I didn't deserve what he had been doing to me for all those years. It wasn't right. It wasn't my fault, and there was no way I'd ever want to be around him again." Maryellen Kasimian, Medical Student

SURVIVING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE tells the stories of twelve women. Each was a victim of domestic violence, escaped from her abuser, reclaimed her dignity, reconstructed her life, and rediscovered peace. Domestic violence doesn’t just happen "out there" somewhere. It happens in our town, in our neighborhood, on our street. It happens to women we see at work, the supermarket, the movie theater, the ballet and the PTA board meeting. Every woman who has left an abusive man—every woman who has yet to leave—will find encouragement and hope in the voices of these women who broke free.