In Where Did All the Butterflies Go? Elizabeth G. shares the powerful lessons she learned from being enmeshed in a cycle of abuse. Though she recognized that marrying her abusive boyfriend would be a mistake, her own mother made her go through with the wedding. That she lived through the nearly life-threatening domestic violence and was able to write about it is a miracle.

Not even the births of her children improved her situation, and she became profoundly depressed. Finally, after her mother's death, she decided to divorce her husband and live a life free of fear. And as if the...