Dragonslippers: This Is What an Abusive Relationship Looks Like »

Rosalind B. Penfold is an appealing, successful thirty-five-year-old businesswoman running her own company when her parents, worried that she works too hard, invite her to a country picnic-party one weekend. There she meets widower Brian and is swept off her feet. Romantic and exuberant, with four loving children, Brian seems like everything a woman could possibly want, and Roz falls deeply in love. But soon Roz begins to notice troubling signs that Brian is not what he seems. A pattern of lies and petty cruelties begins to emerge that, over the course of their decade together, comes to encompass a litany of physical, mental, and sexual abuse appalling in its scope and malevolence. Often too traumatized and ashamed to admit the true extent of what she is experiencing, Roz instead pours her anguish into a series of graphic diaries that provide a touching, profoundly shocking, and completely original portrait of domestic abuse.

An extraordinary visual testimony, Dragonslippers presents the many warning signs of abuse and offers a frank examination of the psychology of both abusers and victims. Above all, this is the story of a woman who fights for and finds the strength to break free.

Publishers Weekly

In this deft, honest work, writer-illustrator Penfold documents how she traveled from successful businesswoman to abused wife and back again. With a simple, naive drawing style and matter-of-fact tone, Penfold illustrates just how a confident person can be seduced and dominated by another. Her story starts when she meets Brian at a party and he sweeps her off her feet. A widower, he's ready for a full-time woman in his life, and Roz rapidly becomes absorbed into his sphere, sharing outings and devoting her weekends to his four children. But warning bells start ringing even before they leave for their whirlwind wedding in Greece, and his Jekyll and Hyde routine begins almost immediately after. Penfold, a well-adjusted and compassionate woman, is at first confused by his behavior and reluctant to write off her husband as an abusive, possibly schizophrenic, probable alcoholic. She questions herself, and tries harder, sticking around because she feels deeply responsible for his children, even as his behavior becomes ever more erratic and horrifying. Penfold's simplistic art and direct style are nothing fancy, but they still enable her to tell a compelling story-readers will be relieved by the strength she shows to leave this doomed relationship. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.