Antoine Dixon samurai sword attack victim's book 'graphic'

Simonne Butler was the the victim of a samurai sword attack by Antoine Dixon in 2003. Photos / Chris Loufte/Glenn Jeffrey

Antoine Dixon samurai sword attack victim Simonne Butler is warning family ahead of her autobiography's publication that it's "raw and graphic" and "not for nanas".

'A Double Edged Sword - The Simonne Butler Story' is due to be published this year.

It tells how she healed "mind, body, soul and spirit" after she was attacked by her ex-partner, a drug-fuelled Dixon on January 21, 2003.

Sword-wielding Dixon severed both of Ms Butler's arms in the horrific attack that shocked New Zealand.

Ms Butler's brave recovery and her study of shamanic healing - a spiritual healing process involving an intermediary to the supernatural world - is set to be released this year by Mary Egan Publishing.

Based on her journals dating to 1997, the 41-year-old hopes her ordeal will inspire others.

"[It] deals with my experiences of domestic violence, rape, psychological abuse, abortion and mental illness, and how I rose from the ashes of my life to follow the path of my destiny," she writes on her website.

In her latest post, she writes that now print dates are being finalised, she is starting to "panic" about the book she has previously said is "full of sex and drugs".

"I feel like I need to warn my family and friends that my book is not for nanas," Ms Butler said.

"I've been telling them for years it's raw and graphic. Everything they never wanted to know. And they have met me.

"But for some reason I still feel like I need to warn them to stay away."

During the attack at Pipiroa near Thames, Dixon bilaterally amputated both Ms Butler's hands, which had to be surgically replanted.

She has almost no use of her left hand and about 65 per cent use of the right.

Ms Butler was in hospital for a series of operations, which she said, in hindsight, changed her life.

"It gave me a lot of time to slow down and look after myself and figure out what I wanted to do with my life."