"Susan Weitzman, psychotherapist and educator, draws on her in-depth study of battered women to unveil the unique path taken by the upscale wife - the early warning signs, the internal dilemmas and decisions, and the dangerous desire to cover-up abuse and maintain appearances. She shows how abusive relationships between upper-echelon men and women follow a different course from those in other socioeconomic groups.

And these distinctions - for example, the absence of the "honeymoon period" when the abuser seduces his wife into forgiving him - have profound implications for understanding the true nature of this behavior. Delving into the stories of these women - wives and girlfriends of CEOs and attorneys, of physicians and professors, the women often professionals themselves - Weitzman builds a harrowing psychological profile of both the abused and the abuser."--BOOK JACKET.