Behind closed doors - Susan R. Sloan

Raised in a loving, Irish Catholic family, Valerie O'Connor is a sheltered and innocent young woman who comes of age in the 1950s. At eighteen she falls deeply in love with Jack Marsh, a dashing veteran of the Air Force, and it is only on her wedding night that she has the first hint that their relationship is doomed. Deprived of a stable home himself, Jack brings to their marriage the legacy of the abuse he suffered as a child.
Valerie's many years of marriage are filled with Jack's rages, followed by morning-after remorse.
Will this cycle of abuse permeate the next generation, or can Valerie's strength of character break its grip and bring to an end the ever-increasing violence?