Weep For The Living - Softcover

Butler, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1589803167 ISBN 13: 9781589803169

Publisher: Pelican Publishing, 2005

Synopsis

A survivor's firsthand account of attempted murder in St. Francisville, Louisiana. A former warden of Angola Prison shoots his wife five times with a pistol, then sits down to watch her die on her plantation home porch. The victim, author Anne Butler, survives to tell this true crime story, detailing the unraveling of her seven-year marriage and how it led to her near-murder. Interspersed with simple black and white snapshots, this stranger-than-fiction story of murder, survival, and forgiveness offers keen insights into the mind of both victim and criminal.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Yes, perhaps he'd made a mistake in leaving his wife of many years to marry Anne. We all make such mistakes, but we don't torture and kill the lovers who fail our dreams. At seventy he had wanted the lively 46-year-old Anne, courted her, won her. 'A less formal arrangement, a simple affair, would have made much more sense', say we who live in other places. But we don't live in St. Francisville, Louisiana, and we aren't these two people.
--From the foreword by Abigail Padgett, author of Child of Silence

Anne Butler's autobiographical narrative of her husband's attempt to murder her after seven years of marriage is a compelling and surprisingly compassionate story of true love turned
"true crime."
Ms. Butler's story of survival details the unraveling of her marriage to Murray Henderson, a former warden of Louisiana's high-security Angola Prison, and her journey of recovery and redemption following the crime. This is her attempt to understand why Henderson tried to kill her; why he felt, as he put it, "there [was] no other option." It is an engaging tale of forgiveness, filled with insightful passages and heart-stopping details. But it is not just her story; it gives a voice to what in the past has too often been a silent crime, and it has lessons for women everywhere. Said one reader to the author, "You speak for us all."
The setting of Weep for the Living is Ms. Butler's family plantation home, Butler Greenwood Plantation Bed and Breakfast, where Ms. Butler is the chatelaine. The author of a dozen books, including children's books, cookbooks, travel books, and nonfiction on criminal justice, Ms. Butler also wrote Audubon Plantation Country Cookbook, named Best New Cookbook of the Year by Louisiana Life magazine.

About the Author

Anne Butler is a native of St. Francisville and operates a bed and breakfast at the Butler Greenwood Plantation, which has been in her family since the 1790s. Motivated by her love of culture, she has reached a wide audience through articles published in the Los Angeles Times, Country Woman, New Orleans Magazine, and Country Road. She is also the author of Pelican's Audubon Plantation Country Cookbook, Bayou Plantation Country Cookbook, Acadian Plantation Country Cookbook, The Pelican Guide to Plantation Homes of Louisiana, and her memoir, Weep for the Living.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pelican Publishing
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1589803167
• ISBN 13: 9781589803169
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 312