World · Europe · 16 hrs ago
A professor writes about his wife’s rape and attempted murder in France
In 1990, Susan Brison was raped and nearly killed during a walk in rural France.
Her husband, Thomas Trezise, was waiting at a farmhouse when he learned she had been attacked and saw her badly injured.
Both were US professors, and they had recently arrived in France for the summer.
Brison later spoke and wrote publicly about sexual violence, including in a book called Aftermath.
Trezise has now written his own memoir, Beginning Again, about the years after the attack and the experience of supporting his wife.
He says he struggled with writing about his pain because Brison had suffered far more, and because most sex crimes are committed by men.
The memoir offers a perspective on the effects of sexual violence on a survivor’s partner as well as on the survivor.
Thomas Trezise has written a memoir about his wife Susan Brison’s rape and attempted murder in rural France.
Brison was attacked on 4 July 1990 while out walking near a farmhouse where the couple were staying.
Trezise found her badly injured and accompanied her by ambulance to a hospital in Grenoble.
Brison later spoke and wrote publicly about sexual violence, and encouraged Trezise to write about his experience.
The couple are now in their seventies and have an adult son.
- Who
- Thomas Trezise wrote about his wife, Susan Brison, and their experience after the attack.
- What
- Brison was raped and attacked in an attempted murder. Trezise’s memoir, Beginning Again, recounts the effects on them.
- When
- The attack took place on 4 July 1990.
- Where
- Rural France, near a remote farmhouse; Brison was taken to hospital in Grenoble.
- Why
- Brison encouraged Trezise to write about the experience and its effects.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Brison went for a morning walk in rural France and was attacked.
Trezise saw his colleague running towards him, and Brison was brought to the farmhouse by ambulance.
Brison began speaking publicly about sexual violence.
Brison’s account of the attack was published in the New York Times.
- Attack date
- 4 July 1990
- Location
- Rural France
- Hospital
- Grenoble
- Memoir
- Beginning Again
- Brison’s book
- Aftermath
- Publication
- Brison’s account appeared in the New York Times in 1993
What people are saying
I’ll be OK.
I’d found someone with whom I really wanted to spend my life and I just felt very, very lucky
I knew he had it in him to write this book
Sources
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