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1. What is the premise of BLACK AND BLUE?

Frannie Benedetto is a middle-aged nurse who has been married to her first love, Bobby, for nearly twenty years. Bobby has been violent toward Frannie since the early days of their courtship and she has recently decided she needs to escape before he kills her.

2. What does Frannie realize about her husband when hearing details about a police case?

Bobby is a police officer who once testified in a famous case which he encouraged Frannie to see. Frannie recalls how the accused had told the court that a cop kept hounding him until finally he had broken. Frannie knows this must have been Bobby and she knows how it feels because he often does the same to her.

3. Why does Frannie feel a sense of guilt regarding her injuries?

Frannie thinks back on her marriage, on the many beatings she has suffered about which she has lied to her young son, of the bruises and the soreness that she has explained away as her own clumsiness. With those lies comes guilt, as though Fran has caused her own injuries in some way.

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