Time to Stop Pretending

In the passion of this story resounds the brave voice of one woman who harnessed her courage and creativity to overcome domestic violence, poverty, religious dependency, and homelessness.
Here is an inside look at domestic violence and how it is perpetuated, shown by one who witnessed it as a child, endured it in marriage, and courageously escaped. The author tells of quitting school at 16 to marry, of bearing eight children ("As far as Lou was concerned, pregnancy was like sex; neither required a wife's consent, and both required her cooperation," she says), of escaping her abusive father and then a husband who for years had rendered her hopeless and terror stricken. Her account of pushing on, through homelessness and shelter life with her children in New York City, to the daylight of education and wholesome surroundings, is inspiring. It is a story of one woman's experiences that speaks about society as a whole.