“Maybe now you’ll learn your place,” my mother-in-law sneered after my husband attacked me while I held our sick baby post-surgery. Weak and trembling, I locked us in the room and dialed one number. Minutes later, heavy boots kicked down the front door, and my husband’s face went pale as my father walked in wearing his general’s uniform and said…

warned me in his cramped downtown office. “They will say you provoked him. They will say you injured yourself to trap him. They will question your sanity, your fitness as a mother, and your memory of the event.”

We ran mock cross-examinations for hours. James played the part of the defense attorney, hurling vile accusations at me until I broke down continue reading …