"This unflinching novel chronicles a woman's relationship with a violent man in a way that brings fresh insight to the subject . . . engaging and uplifting." --O, The Oprah Magazine

From Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of The Women Behind the Door, the heartrending origin story of Paula Spencer, a brave and tenacious housewife

Paula Spencer is a thirty-nine-year-old mother of four, a blue-collar worker, an alcoholic in recovery--or maybe not. Then one day a police officer knocks on her door. From the look on his face, she can tell it's not good news.

His revelation takes Paula back to the past, to her contented childhood, the audacity she learned as a teenager, the exhilaration of her romance with her husband Charlo, and the violent marriage to him that left her powerless. Now, as she struggles to reclaim her dignity from the abuse that left her with scars and a worsening drinking problem, this new revelation threatens to shatter the fragile peace she's built for herself and drag her back down the dark paths she thought she'd left behind.

Capturing both her vulnerability and strength, Roddy Doyle gives Paula a voice that is singular and real, the story of an ordinary woman whose extraordinary character will stay with you long after this novel and into the subsequent books in his trilogy, Paula Spencer and The Women Behind the Door.