The Woman Who Walked into Doors – Roddy Doyle

That was my life. Getting hit, waiting to get hit, recovering; forgetting. Starting all over again. There was no time, a beginning or and end. I cant say how many times he beat me. It was one beating; it went on forever. I know how long: seventeen years. One stinking, miserable, good lump of days. Daylight and darkness. Pain and the fear of it. Darkness and daylight, over and over; world without end. (Ch.25, p.206)

The novel is about a battered wife who makes excuses for and justifies her husbands wrongdoing. The Woman Who Walked into Doors tells the story of Paula Spencer, who struggles to reclaim her dignity after a violent, abusive marriage and a worsening alcohol problem, which she admits to nobody. Roddy Doyle takes us inside the head of Paula, who is now 39 years old, mother of... [via Mattviews]