In 1970s Britain, a young woman escapes an abusive childhood only to find herself trapped in a marriage that becomes a decades-long nightmare of control and violence. When Christine meets a charming Iranian student, she believes she’s found her chance at happiness. Instead, she enters a world where love transforms into terror, and the institutions meant to protect her become complicit in her imprisonment.
Through pubs, factories, and supermarket aisles, Christine builds a life while navigating an increasingly dangerous home life. But in an era when women are told to endure rather than escape, she must find the strength not only to survive but to protect her children and eventually her grandchild from the cycle of abuse. Raw, unflinching, and ultimately hopeful, this memoir exposes the systemic failures that kept women trapped in violent marriages while celebrating the resilience of the human spirit.
It’s a story of survival against impossible odds, the unbreakable bonds between mothers and children, and the power of breaking free to reclaim one’s life. A testament to how far we’ve come in protecting abuse victims - and how far we still have to go.