The following is from the first page in the prologue:
During my mother's life with my dad, he gave her many opportunities to remember what her sister Virginia, or “Din,” told her when she first started dating him. “You don't want to get serious about that guy.”
“I thought I liked him, too, until someone pointed out that all his horses are head-shy,” Din said.
“What's that supposed to mean?” Mom demanded.
Din said, “It means he beats them over the head with a fence post because he can't do enough damage with a whip.”
“I don't believe that!” Mom retorted.
“If you don't believe me, ask a horseman,” Din said.
Mom laughed and told Din she thought that was a funny way to judge a man. “Anyway, what does that have to do with me?”
Richards goes on to paint a graphic scene about a blinded, dying horse on her father's ranch in western Montana.
I closed the book and put it down after reading the first two pages. I wondered how I would get through the rest of the book.
Richards recently spoke on a panel about domestic violence in the West as part of the Montana Festival of the Book. She started writing “Dancing on his Grave” in 1982, shortly after her father's death.
Richards, her four sisters and her mother all suffered cruel beatings unleashed upon them during her father's violent rages. But Richards also speaks of the strength of the human spirit and how victims of abuse can survive and move on.
The book panel consisted of three women, including Richards. She was the last to speak. And when it was time for the audience to clap in expected appreciation, it was as if they didn't know how to stop clapping.
Audiences everywhere have had a similar response, Richards said when we spoke later.
Yet Richards has found it difficult to find a book publisher, which is why she self-published the book in August. And it's not that top-tier book publishers didn't like the manuscript. Here are some of the reviews in praise of “Dancing on his Grave”:
“I've finished Barbara Richards' memoir. She's a wonderful writer, graceful and clean and powerful, and this book is just full of memorable scenes.” - Sarah McGrath, Simon and Schuster
“Dancing on his Grave Š is mesmerizing, heartbreaking, vivid and utterly terrifying.”
- Aimee Taub, Penguin Group
“I read the manuscript - avidly, compulsively, because it was impossible not to finish once I started.” - Beth Rashbaum, Random House
When I attended the Festival of the Book, I told myself I would not buy any books. I have too many unread ones at home. But after reading the publishing house reviews and listening to Richards, I bought her book.
I only have a few pages left before I'm finished.
When the publishing houses started turning her down, Richards decided to publish the book herself through Trafford Publishing at www.trafford.com. Her oldest sister, “Catherine,” turned 70. Richards wanted the book to be published before another birthday passed. “Catherine” contributed dozens of first-person accounts of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her father.
Although Richards' book has been praised, top-tier book agents also told her they didn't think there was a market for a book on domestic violence.
Readers should be the judge.
Jodi Rave reports for Lee Enterprises. She can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 ext. 299 or jodi.rave@lee.net
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