I can’t sit still. My debut memoir, You’ll Never Find Us, published by She Writes Press, and endorsed by Dan Rather, hits the streets in a matter of days! Isn’t this exciting? It is for me! And if you’re the least little bit excited for me, I’d love it if you’d attend the launches and help spread the word.
Wednesday, August 25 from 7:00-8:30 pm CDT
Join me for the You’ll Never Find Us VIRTUAL Launch Event hosted by legendary Austin bookstore BookWoman with author and poet Cindy Huyser. It’s a free event but you need to register here.
Tuesday, August 31 at 7:25 am (yes, A.M.!) CDT
Talk Radio Europe — Selina Mackenzie will interview me live on Spain’s leading English speaking talk radio station broadcasting to approximately one million listeners. Listen Live: https://www.talkradioeurope.com
Are you on Goodreads?
My Goodreads Giveaway ends August 15. I’m giving away 10 signed first edition copies of You’ll Never Find Us: A Memoir. Here’s the link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58441083-you-ll-never-find-usfrom_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=dNFOYkuxst&rank=1
Are you an Amazon shopper?
Amazon sends emails about my book to people who are following me. Please take a moment to click here, scroll down to “Follow the Author” and become a follower (takes only a few seconds).
Sneak Peak! The praise for the book thus far has been grand. Following is a synopsis of the story and an excerpt—in case you’re curious!
You’ll Never Find Us: A Memoir
In 1977, Jeanne’s German ex-husband, Klaus, tells her he has a new job and wants to take their three-year-old daughter and six-year-old son away for a long weekend to celebrate. Jeanne relents. But Klaus never returns and instead sends Jeanne a letter, delivered by a priest, in which he declares that he has fled to Germany and Jeanne will never see him, or her children, again.
The next four months are filled with agony, despair, and anger as Jeanne seeks legal support but quickly learns that federal parental kidnapping laws will offer her little help. She reflects on her tumultuous ten-year marriage to Klaus and the unsettling events that followed their divorce. A product of the patriarchal culture of the 1950s, Jeanne’s nice-girl mentality is being tested and reshaped by the feminist movement of the 1970s, and she finds that the kidnapping ultimately becomes a doorway to unexpected strength.
You’ll Never Find Us is the story of a young mother coming into her own power, regardless of past mistakes, bad judgment, and fears; the story of a woman who realizes that she must tap into her newfound resilience and courage to find her stolen children—and steal them back.
EXCERPT
Chapter Thirty-Four
Manthey v. Manthey
1976–1977, Indianapolis, Indiana
We would split everything: the dishes, the silverware, the children. Klaus insisted on no attorney involvement, so we met and laboriously went through item by item, every detail, every stick of furniture. My mantra: Be nice, be fair, and he’ll let you go.
As I sat in my car with a severe headache after forfeiting my plans, my thoughts spun in two different directions. I could hear, but I’m their mother! Children go with the mother—thoughts contradicted by is that fair to their father? The one you betrayed? The one who doesn’t want the divorce? The one who is a “good” father?
I started the engine and backed out of the driveway, my heart hurting worse than my head. When I got home, I looked at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and exhaustion and fear looked back at me—I feared the fight; I feared his anger, and most of all, I feared losing.
I would learn years later of Gloria Steinem’s coining of the term “female impersonator,” referring to our male-dominated society’s socialization of young girls. Men determine what is feminine and girls, at age twelve or thirteen, wanting approval, change their behavior to suit the male rather than developing their own definition of what being a female means.
I had learned early on to play the role of the pleaser, which came with its own internal dialogue of self-criticism. What I had trouble learning is that if you’re always trying to be what someone else wants you to be, it’s never enough. Never enough, the internal critics whispered—not smart enough, not good enough. The charges were a dissonant chorus of voices in my head as I tried to please my way through life. And here I was, wending my way through a divorce, wanting to stand my ground, and those voices were still dictating my decisions.
