1230 North Garfield

Book excerpt: Noreen Mayr suffers through her marriage for 4,745 days—nearly thirteen years—before she finds the courage to change her life. At that point, one terrifying night, she packs her children into the old Plymouth and slips away into the night. As she leaves the house she shared with her husband, she knows she is saving more than the children’s lives; she is saving their futures, too. As the victims of cruel and unending psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her husband, Ray Mayr, she and her children have endured more than they could bear. Curious as to how one man could be so angry, she looks into his own childhood. There, she discovers a frightening truth, but no solutions to help spare her own children. Escape is the only answer, and Noreen knows she must take any chance that fate has presented her. As she drives into the night, embarking on an unknown but necessary journey to freedom and safety, she has no idea of the challenges she and her children will face. This is their story, one of sadness, fear, sorrow-and an escape to a successful, safe, and sane future, filled with hope. Noreen’s future comes to a screeching halt when she encounters a stranger.