An intriguing and poignant read, this part-memoir, part-travelogue
makes us companions and confidants to the well-known author and
Cosmopolitan columnist Irma Kurtz as she retraces her steps across
Europe, nearly 50 years after she first left New Jersey. When Irma
came across the journal of her first journey vivid memories came
flooding back. Having lost nothing of her sense of adventure, she
decided to leave her London home and witness what the intervening
years have done to favourite places and favourite memories. It's a
book to be enjoyed on a number of levels. The familiar, feisty but
wise Irma of today frequently takes the naive and enthusiastic
18-year-old to task and there are times when she comes down very
hard on her youthful self. There are also some very sad moments
when Irma is bewildered by her senior years and seems almost
envious of the first-time experiences and loves she enjoyed in the
1950s. Her snapshot albums of Europe then and now are fascinating.
Being an American, resident in England and Jewish all add rich
perspectives to her observations and when these are, in turn,
coloured by that marvellous wry sense of humour, this becomes a
most enjoyable armchair round trip. For those of us who have not
yet mastered the art of travelling alone, Irma proves to be an
inspiring guide. (Kirkus UK)
A memoir from Irma Kurtz, the author of "The Great American Bus
Ride" and internationally renowned agony aunt. In 1954 18 year-old
Irma Kurtz left New Jersey to travel across Europe, intent on
transforming herself and changing the world. She looked to the Old
World for an alternative destiny to that mapped out by the
traditional expectations at home. On her post-war grand tour she
found what she believed in: art and culture, and beauty and love,
and some horror as a Jewish girl encountering the seat of much of
her family's destruction. Two years ago, sifting through a
cardboard box filled with memories at her mother's house, she
rediscovered the journal of her first journey, the one that marked
the beginning of a life of writing and living abroad. Gripped by
intense recollections of sailing across the Atlantic, and intrigued
by the exuberant remarks of her adventurous younger self, she
decided to leave her London home and retrace her footsteps, this
time with herself as a guide. Testing her theory that older women
are invisible, Kurtz's journey is peppered with acute observations
of human behaviour, not to mention some sharp advice for her
ghostly travel companion, a teenager who t
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