Trailing, a memoir

Trailing, a memoir by Kristin Louise Duncombe

Trailing is a beautifully written memoir of a "trailing spouse". Having grown up as a child of a diplomat, Kristin didn't forsee any issues with following her husband to East Africa as part of a medical team. She had grown up moving a lot, mostly overseas, and assumed that her life experience had prepared her...

The transition to life in Nairobi, as a trailing spouse with no career, was far from smooth. Kristin tries to fill her days, feel fulfilled, while being the spouse of an active medical doctor on the front lines of African distress. Kristin is starting to feel good when a car jacking turns her world upside down. With post-traumatic stress disorder, every day life becomes excruciatingly difficult. Simple travel in a taxi upends her day.

The memoir follows Kristin to Uganda, and ultimately to France, through multiple jobs. (Finding a way to utilize her social work education overseas was much more difficult than expected.) Her challenges of overcoming PTSD, raising a child, and ultimately dealing with complete betrayal take us through from depression to triumph.

Duncombe does a beautiful job of taking us into her innermost pain. It was a heartwarming story, that makes you cheer in her triumph and cry at her pain.

A Bitter Veil

A Bitter Veil, by Libby Fischer Hellmann

In A Bitter Veil, Libby Fischer Hellmann gives us insight to the turmoil in the middle east, through the eyes of an American woman. The conflict at the heart of the novel is Iran, in the late 70s and early 80s, including the taking of the American hostages. We see the bitter hatred for Americans, the cruelty that comes with a revolution and political unrest.

Anna, an American college student, falls in love with an Iranian, and moves back to Iran to start a life with him. Her husband comes from an afluent family, and everything is provided for them. A new home, furnishings, everything. Her father in law arranges a job for her husband, and their life together seems off to a perfect start.

At first, Anna embraces her new home, the culture rich heritage, and different lifestyle. While the uprising had already begun before their move, it escalates quickly. We see many people in their lives changing, taking sides, and becoming untrustworthy. Anna's relationship with her own husband deteriorates rapidly, and he is taken up with secretive forces. And we see what Anna has to do, to simply survive...

The story is an amazing account of our heroine, and what she endures while living in the middle of chaos, and how people came to help her. It was beautifully written, and extremely moving. Two thumbs up!