A new updated edition of the classic Life with Billy commemorates the twenty-fifth anniversary of Jane Hurshman's historic NOT GUILTY verdict.

First published in Canada in 1986, Life with Billy told the story of Jane Hurshman, the Nova Scotia woman who after five years of severe abuse by her common-law husband Billy Stafford shot him to death while he was passed out drunk in the front seat of his half-ton truck. The jury acquitted Jane of murder, but the Crown appealed and won a new trial, this time accepting Jane's manslaughter plea.

Though overturned on appeal, that not guilty verdict demonstrated that the public was ahead of the judicial system on the matter of criminal domestic violence and led to the acceptance of Battered Wife Syndrome as a defence in Canadian courts. Life with Billy chronicles the legal battle that shocked, divided and ultimately enlightened a nation.

Ten years after Billy's death, Jane Hurshman shot hearself to death in the front seat of her car in a deserted parking lot on the Halifax waterfront. Vall?e's book reveals the true story behind the mystery of her death.

Before she died, Jane spoke publicly and often. Her story has inspired and helped thousands of women. This book is part of her legacy.

BRIAN VALLEE worked on newspapers in England, the United States, and Canada before joining CBC’s award-winning documentary program ‘the fifth estate’ where he spent ten years, the last five as a producer/director. Vallée was researcher and associate producer of John Zaritsky’s Oscar-winning documentary, Just Another Missing Kid and two of Vallée’s numerous CBC documentaries won Actra Awards while another won an Audubon Society Award. Life With Billy, Vallée’s previous book on a battered wife, sold more than 300,000 copies in Canada, the United States, and France. A TV movie based on the book won three Gemini Awards in 1995. Vallée’s first novel, Pariah, was published in Canada and the US in 1991.
Brian Vallée lives in Toronto, where he continues to write books and produce documentary films.]]>

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