An autobiographical account of a marriage that looked idyllic from the outside. She: a missionaries' kid, intelligent, educated, conscientious. He: a minister of the gospel, Seminary graduate, family man, charming host. Together: parents, home owners, church-planters. In reality: a battered wife. Frightened children. Sudden violence. Lies and manipulation. Sixteen years of fear. This book exposes the corrupt heart of the marriage and explores the questions, "Why didn't she just leave?" and "How did she finally break the bonds that held her?" The author offers no professional opinions, proposes no legislation, espouses no theories. She only tells her story, as it happened, in hopes that it may help someone else to find her way to the sunlight.

A lively account of a harsh but beautiful landscape and the characters who have inhabited it. Learn the truth about Judge Roy Bean and a few other heroes and rogues.

Returning to the territory of "Brokeback Mountain" (in her first volume of Wyoming Stories) and Bad Dirt (her second), National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner Proulx delivers a stunning and visceral new collection.