Rights / Justice
His Crimes Her Secrets
Dedicated to the women who suffered before me, who will cry alongside me and who will fight for justice long after I’m gone. This book is not a great novel, but a story of one woman who was downtrodden for 40 years before she had the courage to speak up. This story is about a woman who survived even though it took her so long to tell her story. This book is written to show every woman out there that you can survive, that it is not easy, but if we all stick together, we will help the world see that this must stop, that we will not take it anymore.
About the project
Fran Spears doesn’t describe herself as a writer. Instead she says that she is ‘just’ someone who started writing her experiences down and found that the words poured out like a tide. The result is this brave and forceful book, that is both hard to read… and a ‘must’ read. His Crimes Her Secrets is a true account, wrapped in a novel, of the domestic violence suffered by one woman at the hands of two men. A fierce advocate for women everywhere who find themselves in the grips of domestic violence, Fran donates proceeds from the sale of this book to the Hobart Women’s Shelter.
First published under the title Crimes of the Father in as part of The People’s Library created by A Published Event, the OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights team worked with Fran to publish this new edition, His Crimes Her Secrets, launched into the wider world by Tasmania’s most fabulous Governor, Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC.
In the foreword to this edition, co-founder of A Published Event, Justy Phillips writes: ‘His Crimes Her Secrets is a book of survival bound in one woman’s strength to overcome the odds of domestic violence. It is also empowering. It is a life-affirming and absolutely essential read for all of us, touched as we are, by violence of all kinds in all places.’
You can purchase copies of the book from Fullers Bookshop and our online shop.
OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights thanks its major funding supporters for this project: 2A4 Small Grants Scheme and Bellendena Small Grants Scheme. We also recognise the contribution of the Tasmanian Government.
Support is available at the National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line 1800 737 732, the Hobart Women’s Shelter (03) 6273 8455 and Engender Equality (03) 6278 9090 (statewide).
Buy the BOOK!
A fierce advocate for women everywhere who find themselves in the grips of domestic violence, Fran donates 50% of the proceeds from the sale of this book to the Hobart Women’s Shelter.
