Feminist Author Duo Merges the Personal and Political in a Gripping Domestic Violence Novel  

Feminist Author Duo Merges the Personal and Political in a Gripping Domestic Violence Novel  

Evelyn Anderton and Pearl Wolfe, co-authors of Walk Out the Door

While working together in the 1990s at Womenspace, an agency working to end domestic violence, we learned why our women didn’t walk out the door from violent relationships sooner or at all. There were few options for them. Not enough safe shelters, living wage jobs, adequate childcare, or affordable housing. When the police were called by their children or neighbors, it was viewed as a “domestic issue” between intimate partners. It was not their concern. 

Womenspace began in 1977, during the decade when “We will not be Beaten” became the mantra for women across the U.S. organizing to end domestic violence (National Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence).

Awareness of what the women and children needed was slowly expanding across the country largely because of the women’s movement. Safety was Womenspace’s priority, but education about battering was a close second. Knowing that we had to change society’s attitude, we started education programs in the middle and high schools, the University of Oregon, and Lane Community College. We also presented to elected officials, social clubs like the Rotary and Soroptimists, and to anyone who would listen. We made hundreds of presentations annually to educate the wider community about their role to end domestic violence. 

Our message was a strongly feminist one: women need to be seen as equal to men socially, politically, and economically, and cannot be dominated through violence and abuse. 

We contacted the District Attorney who was sympathetic to our cause and encouraged him to call a meeting with the local police chiefs, sheriff, custody referee, court personnel and a variety of law enforcement personnel to discuss the issue. As a result, our agency led the charge to create a Domestic Violence Council to change the legal system’s response to domestic violence. The Council grew to include non-profit agencies whose clients included victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. We knew we were making progress when the custody referee at the jail reported that when she told a batterer who had been arrested that she would hold him overnight he was shocked and said, “Why? You’ve never held me before.”

As both activists and survivors of childhood domestic violence and child abuse, the two of us felt we had an intimate perspective on this issue. Long after we left Womenspace, we knew that one way to reach a wider audience of women and those who could help them to understand their choices was through writing our first novel, Walk Out the Door.

The process of writing with two authors was both challenging and satisfying. We had written grants together at Womenspace, so we knew each other’s styles and strengths. The first step was to outline the plot. Then we dove in with each of us writing alternating chapters. During our twice-a-week, three-hour sessions, we would sit together at Pearl’s house in front of her computer. One of us would read aloud what she had written that week and the other would enter changes in our shared Google doc.

Our goal was to speak in one voice and as feminists to respect each other’s contributions. Through this process, we might move in a new direction in one chapter which meant an earlier chapter needed to be changed and sometimes eliminated! Once we verbally agreed on the major edits it would go back to the author of that chapter to revise. At times, we would get frustrated by the other’s suggestions, but we worked through our differences and now we remain close friends.

Character development is always a challenge in writing fiction. We knew that we had to show the multiple sides of the batterer, including charm and charisma at times, since that’s part of what might keep women from leaving a violent relationship. With all the stories we had heard at the shelter and over the crisis line through the years, it was challenging work to make him believable. While some see battered women as weak, we knew from our personal experience that quite the opposite was true. It was the lack of equality that allowed men to dominate women in this way.

After a number of writes and re-writes, we created an internal review team. We asked three expert friends to review drafts of our manuscript and give us critical feedback. One was a published Edgar Award winning author, and the others were former Womenspace staff, one a therapist and the other a Ph.D. who did her dissertation on domestic violence. Their insights and suggestions were invaluable. We realized we needed to be less “preachy” about our issue. Our catchphrase became “show it, don’t tell it.” 

Three years later, we completed Walk Out the Door and found an independent publisher, Atmosphere Press, to get it out into the world. We are grateful to Womenspace for the experience and knowledge we gained during our years there. For us, it was an exceptional workplace with strong and nurturing staff and volunteers, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  We have first-hand knowledge that domestic violence programs across the country save lives every single day.

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Co-authors Pearl Wolfe and Evelyn Anderton recently completed their debut contemporary fiction novel, Walk Out the Door. They became colleagues and friends while at Women-space, an agency working to end domestic violence in Eugene, Oregon. They each have over two decades of experience with issues related to violence against women. Both grew up in homes where domestic violence and child abuse were the norm, bringing an intimate perspective to their writing.

Both authors have a history as activists focused on domestic violence, homelessness, and poverty. Wolfe and Anderton are recipients of the City of Eugene “Human Rights Recognition Award” for their dedication to the empowerment of women through their work on domestic violence.

Wolfe has a B.A. in Social Work from University of Wisconsin and an M.S. in Sociology from the University of Oregon. Anderton holds a B.A in English from UC Berkeley.

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WALK OUT THE DOOR

Praise for Walk Out the Door

“Walk Out the Door is a vivid and visceral reading experience, and more than that, an education.

Hard-hitting, engaging, empowering, Walk Out the Door is a fresh, unflinchingly realistic, and ultimately redemptive story of generational domestic violence. The situations it depicts are unavoidable in today’s culture. Don’t miss it.

Is Quinn, the abusive celebrity judge, above the law? Will Quinn’s legacy destroy his son Matt’s marriage to Liz?

Can friends, relatives, and social workers help Liz regain her self-confidence and independence when so many others like her have been unable to leave destructive love relationships?

Behind years of their own professional experience, authors Wolfe and Anderton give us an authentic, simultaneously tender and gritty account of Liz’s journey through the labyrinthian and insidious corridors of domestic violence.”

-Charlie Price, Edgar Award Winning Author of THE INTERROGATION OF GABRIEL JAMES

“A story that invites you to consider your own relationships as you relate to the lives of its characters. Escape into this good read and learn about the complexities of relationship violence and the people who experience it.”

-Kate Barkley, PhD

Former Executive Director, Womenspace, Eugene, OR.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing