Fighting Back: A Battered Woman's Desperate Struggle to Survive [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Davidson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2000

The shocking true story of a woman pushed to homicidal rage by the hands of her violent husband . . .

Long before there were abuse hot lines and shelters for battered women, June Briand fired four bullets into her husband's head and was sentenced to fifteen years to life. This is the shocking true story of survival--and the intense bond June shared with her pathologically violent husband, a monster who physically and sexually tortured, degraded, and dominated her so relentlessly that she refused to believe he was dead even after she killed him.

What kind of woman would slay her own husband? What kind of man would drive her to do it? Why didn't she just leave him? Based on extensive interviews with June Briand, FIGHTING BACK explores these difficult questions while exposing the twisted sadomasochistic dynamics of a relationship that enslaves a woman--and drives her to kill.

At once terrifying and maddening, heartrending and ultimately exhilarating-- including an unforgettable glimpse at life inside a maximum security prison--FIGHTING BACK is a book you will never forget.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The shocking true story of a woman pushed to homicidal rage by the hands of her violent husband . . .

Long before there were abuse hot lines and shelters for battered women, June Briand fired four bullets into her husband's head and was sentenced to fifteen years to life. This is the shocking true story of survival--and the intense bond June shared with her pathologically violent husband, a monster who physically and sexually tortured, degraded, and dominated her so relentlessly that she refused to believe he was dead even after she killed him.

What kind of woman would slay her own husband? What kind of man would drive her to do it? Why didn't she just leave him? Based on extensive interviews with June Briand, FIGHTING BACK explores these difficult questions while exposing the twisted sadomasochistic dynamics of a relationship that enslaves a woman--and drives her to kill.

At once terrifying and maddening, heartrending and ultimately exhilarating-- including an unforgettable glimpse at life inside a maximum security prison--FIGHTING BACK is a book you will never forget.

About the Author

Robert Davidson is the winner of a Best Nonfiction Award from New England's venerable Seacoast Writers Association and is the coauthor of How Good Parents Raise Great Kids. He has written numerous columns for the Portsmouth Herald in New Hampshire. For Fighting Back, Davidson spent hundreds of hours personally interviewing June Briand, as well as speaking with her lawyers and poring over reams of court transcripts and countless interviews of virtually every person involved with the Briand case over the last ten years.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449005429
• ISBN-13: 978-0449005422
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,057,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Fighting Back: A Battered Woman's Desperate Struggle to Survive (Mass Market Paperback)

From a previous review: "There is not much mention about the heart-ache she placed on her children by taking their fathers life. It makes me wonder what the publishing of this book has done to her children."

It makes me wonder what seeing their mother beaten and raped DAILY did to her children. Would you say the same thing if Jimmy Briand had killed June, rather than the other way around?

And:

"...Why wouldn't June want her husbands family to take the children where they could find comfort and love, instead of throwing them into a disgruntal family and then on to foster homes."

Probably because the Norton family was (is?) just as violent as Briand himself was. You didn't pay much attention to the book, did you?

To the people who said they noticed inconsistancies in June's story: June was most likely suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A common byproduct of this is not being able to remember all the details of the events triggering the disorder itself. If you'd been beaten that often, and had as many concussions and injuries as June did, I bet your memories would be a bit hazy, too.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I've Been There, December 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Fighting Back: A Battered Woman's Desperate Struggle to Survive (Mass Market Paperback)

...This book gives the reader a glimpse into the hell so many women live in on a daily basis. ... Everyone should read this book and get an insight into what kind of terror is inflicted upon so many women on a daily basis. I'm sure it will be a real eyeopener to many.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, April 8, 2003

By 

babygurl "book maven" (Nunya) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fighting Back: A Battered Woman's Desperate Struggle to Survive (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a true story about a battered woman named June who eventually killed her abusive husband. It is a tragic story. Her husband was a monster who put her through so much before she finally pulled the trigger one night and killed him. The story is about a woman's struggle to survive and thrive in a chaotic, cruel world. Recommended, but beware it can be graphic!