ROSALIND B. PENFOLD

New and Forthcoming:

DragonSlippers:
The Graphic Diaries of Rosalind B. Penfold, Graphic Narrative
(Penguin, Canada; Sperling & Kupfer, Italy; Lumen, Spain; HarperCollins UK; Grove Atlantic, US; Ediouro Brazil; Eichborn, Germany; Unieboek, The Netherlands; PT Gramedia, Indonesia; MAG, Poland; Editions Ca et La, French)

• Nominee, 2006 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-fiction
• Nominee, Best Book, 2006 Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning

Rosalind B. Penfold walked into what she thought would be a love story - with a recently widowed executive and his young children. It turned out to be the kind of life she had never experienced before. While many people might keep a diary, Rosalind drew what she witnessed - as it was happening - in harrowing detail, and then hid the images in a cardboard box. Now, many years later, her drawings have been compiled into this shocking, graphic account.

Her experience - of what it was like to be enmeshed in an abusive relationship, and how she eventually found the wisdom she needed to get out, will educate, inform and astound. Her images illustrate many of the known warning signs of intimate partner violence, and answer the common question, “Why did you stay?” Many women in similar circumstances have said, “If you’ve never been there, you wouldn’t understand.” Rosalind B. Penfold’s images take you there. Disturbing, yet compelling, they show the destructive force of domestic abuse facing many families today.

Rosalind B. Penfold says, “I believe I turned to art instinctively because I couldn't believe what was happening to me. I needed to see it in black and white. Ironically, although my illustrations give me distance, they give others a close-up. They turned out to be far more personal than prose could ever be. I am hoping that my book will lead to more open discussion, and a greater understanding of the nature of domestic abuse. Abuse needs to be recognized, named, and stopped. I feel strongly that this is not only my story. It is the story of millions of families across North America. I have chosen a pseudonym because there are many ‘Rosalinds’ and I was just one of them."

Jacket Description (Harper Collins UK):

When successful young businesswoman Roz met impulsive, outgoing widower Brian, she was immediately swept off her feet. Romantic and exuberant, with four loving children, Brian seemed like everything a woman could possibly want, and within months of meeting him, Roz was deeply, devotedly in love.

But not long into the relationship, Roz began to notice the first worrying signs that the man to whom she was now committed was not what he seemed. A pattern of small lies and petty cruelties began to emerge which, over the course of their ten-year relationship, would come to encompass a litany of physical, mental and sexual abuse truly appalling in its scope and malevolence.

Often too traumatized and ashamed to admit the true extent of the abuse she was suffering – either to herself or to her increasingly concerned family and friends – Rosalind B. Penfold instead poured her anguish into a series of graphic diaries which she maintained for the length of her nightmarish relationship. The result is a touching, profoundly shocking and completely original portrait of domestic abuse that charts with dramatic immediacy the disintegration of a romance into a morass of confusion and fear.

This extraordinary visual testimony to an experience both intensely personal and frighteningly universal provides an unparalleled window into the usually shuttered world of domestic abuse and the claustrophobic lives of its victims. Illuminating, horrifying and inspiring, Rosalind B. Penfold’s story is a caution against the more subtle warning signs of abuse and a frank examination of the psychology of both abusers and victims. Above all, however, it is the story of a woman who fought for and found the strength to break free.

Quotes:

“The great value of this work is that it presents abuse in a visual form. The language of abuse and violence is to a great extent nonverbal. It comes in the form of actions. These cartoon images - depicting the gradual progression of abuse, erosion of the victim’s confidence, social contacts, and sense of independent self - speak in a universal language. DragonSlippers reaches the reader on a deep emotional level that goes beyond words. DragonSlippers is a valuable contribution to the literature on domestic violence.”
     - Vesna Iljic,
Psychotherapist & YWCA educator on domestic abuse

“Empowering and Important. Abuse has its own culture and vocabulary and this book shows it. It will encourage women to draw their own experience. I hope DragonSlippers will be made available to as many women as possible.”
     - Dorothy Bakos,
Director, Violence Against Women Program, Family Services Assn.

“The honesty and visual impact of Roz Penfield's drawings provides a pathway through denial that will help women identify the truth and complexity of their own experience. DragonSlippers is one woman's dramatic life experience, a touchstone for other women in abusive relationships and a clear and direct guide to getting help. This book helps all of us to understand at the deepest level the devastation that is wrought by an abusive relationship. It is a valuable resource for friends and family of victims of abuse, and for therapists, counsellors, community workers, educators, law enforcement personnel, medical, legal and judicial professionals, and all those who are working to prevent violence against women.”
     - R.A. Rosenberg,
Psychotherapist

More information can be found at the Friends-of-Rosalind website: www.dragonslippers.com/

 

World Rights Available Ex:

Canada: Penguin – Sept. 05
• UK: HarperCollins – Feb. 06
• U.S.: Grove Press – April 06
• Brazil: Ediouro – Feb. 06
  
• Indonesia: PT Gramedia– Mar. 06
• Spain: Lumen – May 06
  
• Italy: Sperling & Kupfer – May. 06
  
• Germany: Eichborn – May 06
• Netherlands: Unieboek – Sept. 06
  
• Poland: MAG – tbd
• French: Editions Ca et La – 2007