POLICE IN A SMALL MICHIGAN TOWN were

startled when a young woman, her

children with her, drove to the jail to

surrender. " ! did it!...! clid itl " she

screamed, and told them she had set fire

to the bedroom in which her husband

slept-then fled, leaving him to die in

flames.

Her name was Francine Hughes. This is

the story, exactly as it happened, of her

crime.

What forced this " ordinary" housewife

to kill? What could justify such a horrify-

ing act? This remarkable book reveals

the helplessness of a woman trapped in

an intolerable marriage; how she be-

came the virtual prisoner of an ever more

abusive and terrifying man.

At twenty-nine Francine had endured

thirteen years with Mickey Hughes dur-

ing which youthful romance and ideal-

ism turned to disillusion and daily fear-

then escalated to terror as each

outbreak of Mickey s violence brought

her closer to death. Flight was impossi-

ble unless she abandoned her beloved

children. This, she refused to do. Police,

the courts, and social agencies blandly

turned aside her pleas for help. "Every

door was closed. Every time ! failed !

sank lower. Every day Mickey was coming

closer to killing me. It was like living with

a bomb-waiting for it to explode."