*** Official Selection of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club – Five Diamonds in the Tiara ***
By the age of 40, adventure journalist and world traveler, Beth M. Howard, was convinced that no matter what she set her mind to, she could find a way to do it. Nothing, however, had prepared her for to Stuttgart, Germany, to marry a German.
After a lust-filled, trans-Atlantic courtship, Howard trades the West Coast for a newlywed life with Marcus, an automotive engineer. With fairy-tale optimism, she’s determined to learn the language, settle into her new home and live happily ever after—in an equal partnership. The Teutonic tongue, she discovers, is about as easy as deciphering DNA code. The Germans have a plethora of rules, she learns, but only by breaking them. And, once she is living in his country, her husband expects her to wash his dishes.
Uh, I don’t think so!
“But you are living your dream!” her sister reminds her. “You can have European adventures, and you can write.”
Howard has adventures all right—from Stuttgart to Munich, Berlin, Paris, Italy and beyond—and she’s written all about them in her lively and witty narrative, “Hausfrau Honeymoon: Love, Language and Other Misadventures in Germany.”
Will the marriage survive the minefield of culture clashes? And will she ever learn that ‘awful German Language?’ As Howard strives for the answer, her story will have you laughing, crying and, above all, rooting for a happy ending.
Cuprins
Author’s Note
Chapter 1—You Can’t Help Who You Fall in Love With
Chapter 2 – Settling into German Life
Chapter 3 – Two Weddings and a Dry Cleaner
Chapter 4 – Grocery Shopping, German Style
Chapter 5 – The Path to Domestic Bliss
Chapter 6 – Belated Honeymoon in Costa Rica
Chapter 7 – Munich
Chapter 8 – Employment, Yoga, and Overcoming the Inner Pig Dog
Chapter 9 – Paris
Chapter 10 – Stuttgart by Motor Scooter
Chapter 11 – Berlin
Chapter 12 – A High School Reunion and an Anniversary
Chapter 13 – The American Therapist
Chapter 14 – To Los Angeles and Back
Chapter 15 – Schadenfreude
Chapter 16 – How About Moving to Italy?
Chapter 17 – The Happily Ever After
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Despre autor
Beth M. Howard is the author of ‘Making Piece: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Pie’ and ‘Ms. American Pie: Buttery Good Pie Recipes and Bold Tales from the American Gothic House.’ Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Real Simple, Country Living and Guideposts, among many other publications. She has been featured on CNN Anderson Cooper 360, CBS This Morning, BBC, NPR, Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post and more. She lives on a farm in Southeast Iowa.