.jpg "October Snow (Jenna Brooks)")
Jenna Brooks wrote October Snow for abused mothers because in her experience, the Family Court often takes up where a batterer leaves off. Like the character of "Josie Kane", many of these women are every bit as injured by a paternalistic - even oppressive - Family Court system as they are by an abuser. Their experiences in the court are simply another betrayal. As a society, we pay little attention to the outcome of battered mothers - both legally and culturally.
The Book has been published via CreateSpace and is available as eBook and Paperback - 382 pages - released in November 2012.
About the Book
Josie spent twenty years as a battered wife, dying for a hero.
Now, she's dying to become one.
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Josie Kane is a "difficult" woman, a pure enigma - one who survives her abusive husband by honing her unnerving talent for playing mind games: she knows exactly how to manipulate a bully.
Finally divorced, she thinks the abuse is over, and she's free.
She's wrong. And her cynicism is building.
.jpg "October Snow (Jenna Brooks)") |
| Click to Read an Excerpt |
Josie works with battered women, trying to rescue them from a fate similar to hers. But on the night that yet another battered woman is murdered by her husband, pining for a hero as she dies in Josie's arms, her cynicism becomes a quiet, simmering hatred.
Her one remaining refuge is in her bond with Maxine and Samantha, the two friends whom she loves like sisters. When Samantha becomes pregnant by Jack - an abuser who makes known his intentions to use the baby as a weapon of control - Josie's hatred ripens to a vengeful fury.
She sets out to take on one more batterer, manipulate one more bully... And she lures Jack into the crosshairs of the ultimate mind game.
Her friends are convinced that she intends to rid Samantha of Jack.
They're right.
But with Josie Kane, as always, there's a twist.
With her friends helpless to stop her - and with Samantha hanging in the balance - Josie squares off with Jack in a life-and-death, winner-lose-all battle of wits to determine which side will win Sammy's future.
And this time, there will be a hero.
Reviews (Excerpts)
- "October Snow is a dark debut novel about the aftereffects of domestic violence...Tense and suspenseful, October Snow is a gripping read to the very end, highly recommended." - - Midwest Book Review
- "When it's over, you wish there were 100 more pages. It's that good. Recommend it, you better believe it! You are in for one of the best reads you'll ever have. Kudos Ms. Brooks. Your fans are definitely going to want another book from you!" - Author Dianne Harman
- "I just finished reading October Snow and I am sitting here in stunned silence. It has been a very long time since I have read a grown-up novel of this quality. Ms. Brooks flawlessly captures the experience of a woman in or after a violent relationship, the difficulties of escaping and dealing with a system that does more to perpetuate the abuser's control than to protect the woman and her children... To say that it is riveting is actually an understatement. October Snow is all-consuming. It will stay with me, always." - Christin Berger
About the Author
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| Author Jenna Brooks |
Jenna says her debut novel, October Snow, "wedged its way" into her head when, as a Divorce Coach with a specialty in domestic violence cases, she was threatened by a client's estranged husband.
"After court one day, I was in the parking lot with my client. Her enraged husband was glaring at me, letting me know that my time here was... Shall we say, becoming perilously short?... And I had my usual reaction, of needing to control the entirely unprofessional impulse to flip him off. And that's when the idea for the novel started to form."
October Snow is the story of a deeply wounded, but irrepressible woman - Josilyn ("Josie") Kane. Although she's a fighter, Josie's life is completely taken apart: first, by her battering husband; and then, by the Family Court system and a misogynistic "Father's Rights" lawyer. After her divorce, Josie throws in with a domestic violence organization, and fights the losing battle of rescuing other abused women - until the night that her client is murdered, which is the tragic catalyst that puts the rest of Josie's story in motion.
So, why this topic?
Jenna says, "I wanted my first novel to be about the aftermath of DV for two main reasons: first, I know - because I've done the work - that DV organizations do what they can, but there are quiet tragedies happening out there every day. There are women who, even after they escape, lose everything. And when you toss into the mix the ways in which the Family Court system can actually take up where a batterer leaves off... The aftermath for battered women can be, and often is, devastating. Many of these women never get their legs under them again. October Snow addresses the life of one such woman."
"Second, one of my most pressing concerns about the ways in which this society regards battered women is that we don't honor them for what they truly are: heroes. The most heroic, selfless acts I've ever seen have come from an abused mother's devotion to protecting her children. Yet as a culture, we infantilize abused women. We regard them as weak, clueless, dependent; we throw around phrases such as 'learned helplessness' - when the truth is, what battered women usually learn is that there is no help. So they do whatever they must to save their children. In October Snow, I wanted to reveal a woman who, like too many others, did whatever needed to be done to preserve her kids - but lost herself in the process."
What does Jenna hope the reader will take away from October Snow?
"First, it's a realistic exploration of both the 'wilderness of error' that is the Family Court system, and the effects of the Father's Rights movement on abused mothers; but more important, it also speaks to a largely untapped issue: what happens to a battered woman after she leaves? As a culture, we don't address that problem as we should."
"But from a purely philosophical viewpoint, this is the question that I think the reader will be asking at the end: what really compels Josie Kane? Is it love, justice... Or the darkest possible form of revenge?"
Links to the Author and the Book
Link to the Author's Website
Connect with the Author on Twitter: @shesjennab
Link to the Paperback October Snow with Excerpt on Amazon
Link to the eBook October Snow with Excerpt on Amazon
