Black and Blue: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) - Softcover

Quindlen, Anna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440226104 ISBN 13: 9780440226109

Publisher: Dell, 1999

Synopsis

For eighteen years, Fran Benedetto kept her secret.  And hid her bruises.  And stayed with Bobby because she wanted her son to have a father.  And because, in spite of everything, she loved him.  Then one night, when she saw the look on her ten-year-old son's face, Fran finally made a choice--and ran for both their lives.--

Now she is starting over in a city far from home, far from Bobby.  And in this place she uses a name that isn't hers, and cradles her son in her arms, and tries to forget.  For the woman who now calls herself Beth, every day is a chance to heal, to put together the pieces of her shattered self.  And every day she waits for Bobby to catch up to her.  Because Bobby always said he would never let her go.  And despite the flawlessness of her escape, Fran Benedetto is certain of one thing: It is only a matter of time.--

About this title

Review

Oprah Book ClubŪ Selection, April 1998: "The first time my husband hit me I was nineteen years old," begins Fran Benedetto, the broken heroine of Anna Quindlen's Black and Blue. With one sweeping sentence, the door to an abused and tortured world is swung wide open and the psyche of a crushed and tattered self-image exposed. "Frannie, Frannie, Fran"--as Bobby Benedetto liked to call her before smashing her into kitchen appliances--was a young, energetic nursing student when she met her husband-to-be at a local Brooklyn bar. She was instantly captivated by his dark, brooding looks and magnetic personality, but her fascination soon solidified into a marital prison sentence of incessant abuse and the destruction of her own identity. After an especially horrific beating and rape, Fran realizes that the next attack could be the last. Fearing her son would be left alone with Bobby, she escapes one morning with her child. Fran's salvation comes in the form of Patty Bancroft and Co., a relocation agency for abused women that touts better service than the witness protection program. Armed only with a phone number, a few hundred dollars, and the help of several anonymous volunteers, Fran begins a new life. The agency relocates her to Florida, where she becomes Beth Crenshaw, a recently divorced home-care assistant from Delaware. Fran and her son adapt, meeting challenges with unexpected resilience and resolve until their past returns to haunt them. Quindlen renders the intricacies of spousal abuse with eerie accuracy, taking the reader deep within the realm of dysfunctional human ties. However, her vivid descriptions of abuse, emotional disintegration, and acute loneliness at times numb the reader with their realism.

From the Back Cover

The New York Times Bestseller

"Heartbreaking."
--Time

"Beautifully paced--keeps the reader anxiously turning the pages."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A gut-wrencher--another stunner."
--The Denver Post

"Impossible to put down--the tension is both awful and mesmerizing."
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Engrossing--compassionate and tense."
--The New York Times

"Her best novel yet."
--Publishers Weekly

"Absolutely believable--Quindlen writes with power and grace."
--The Boston Globe

"A moving masterpiece."
--Lexington Herald-Leader

A selection of the Literary Guild and Oprah's Book Club

About this edition

• Publisher: Dell
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0440226104
• ISBN 13: 9780440226109
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384