Butterfly Pinning

To the outside world Alec and Tess have the perfect marriage. Yet, behind closed doors a stormy pendulum of seduction and coercion exists. Alec is masterful, mercurial, chameleon. Trapped like a pinned butterfly, Tess survives by silence and small acts of compliance. Butterfly Pinning-a modern tale in verse, mirrors the themes of Thomas Hardy's classic, Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Between bold strokes and subtle nuances, Brooks addresses coercive control and sexual abuse where the marriage contract, upheld as a woman's sacred protection, is too often her greatest vulnerability. Written as an act of resistance against silence.