First published 2009
Mary Jo Buttafuoco lived quietly in Massapequa, New York, until May 1992 changed everything. A gunshot to her head on her front porch thrust her into the center of the Long Island Lolita media storm. For years afterward, people wondered why she stayed with Joey Buttafuoco while he and shooter Amy Fisher continued making headlines. In this memoir, Mary Jo provides her answer: she was married to a sociopath. She chronicles her painkiller addiction and recovery at the Betty Ford Center, her decision to leave Joey and move alone to California, and her work to reclaim her physical and emotional health despite lasting scars from the shooting. Mary Jo also reveals her controversial choice to forgive Amy Fisher and her journey toward finding new love and trust. Beyond her personal story, she offers guidance to readers who may be involved with sociopaths themselves, drawing from her three decades of experience to help others recognize destructive patterns and find hope for rebuilding their own lives.
Genres: domestic-fiction, addiction, abuse, crime, autobiography, memoir, non-fiction, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, redemption, second-chance
Setting: California, Long Island, Massapequa, New York
Period: 1992
256 pages · Hardcover · Health Communications, Inc.
Content warnings: abuse, addiction, domestic-violence, mental-illness