No More Butterflies

'No More Butterflies' is an emotional roller coaster ride combining an enduring love story with heartbreaking reality. It is a gritty, fast paced tale of manipulation, rejection, abuse, love, honour and friendship. Having faced them all our heroine Emma learns to stand on her own two feet, damaged but determined and still capable of giving her all for what she believes to be right. This surprisingly uplifting psychological drama, with dark moments and romantic overtones, deals with the subjects of domestic psychological, physical and sexual abuse and the lasting damage these do to their victims. It covers twelve years in the lives of two initially unconnected girls, Emma and Helen, both the victims of some form of abuse and the very different consequences this abuse has to both their lives. There are some dark and tragic moments as Emma stumbles from one emotional or physical disaster to the next from the ages of sixteen to twenty-eight. Ultimately it is the realisation of all her clichéd romantic dreams which provides her with the trigger she desperately needs to enable her to take control of her own life. It makes her realise the only way to no longer be a victim is to stop relying on others for emotional and physical stability and to stand on her own two feet. It gives her the courage to face her fears and to do what is right for her daughter. Helen, on the other hand, uses abuse as a weapon with which to defend herself from a world she can not understand. In reality the abuse she has suffered is difficult to define and the line between legitimate psychological damage and inbuilt character traits is blurred. The two girls' lives come together with devastating effects.
About the Author: Claire Smith is 46 and lives in Sale, South Manchester, England. Since childhood she loved to read and soon graduated from The Famous Five, through Swallows and Amazons to Jacqueline Suzanne and Jackie Collins in her teens. In her twenties she discovered such writers as Tom Clancy, Frederick Forsyth, Clive Cussler, Wilbur Smith and Robert Ludlum to name but a few. However, it was not one of these greats who inspired Claire to write. It was a series of dreadful books by several someones she can't remember which prompted her to make real the notion "I could do better than this..." So "No More Butterflies" began. It took several years to write, with children, home life, husband and job all getting in the way at some point or other but eventually it was finished. Published for the first time on kindle in May 2013 the reviews so far have been very encouraging. So much so in fact that Claire has started writing her second book. For the past 25 years Claire has worked as an accountant, which she hated, but has recently quit to become a full time writer, which she loves.