What do you think?
Rate this book
Trailing
Something unexpected occurs when Kristin Louise Duncombe moves to New Orleans to begin her adult life as a psychotherapist: She falls madly in love with a Médecins Sans Frontières doctor, abandons all of her plans, and follows him on a medical mission to East Africa. Faced with the dual culture shock of Kenya and life with the MSF team, Kristin struggles to craft a new existence in a context of mishap, witchcraft, and the life or death stakes of the MSF world. Just when she has managed to establish a life for herself in Nairobi, a violent carjacking catapults her into a state of acute post-traumatic stress, and her life thereafter devolves into a world of intense anxiety that permeates every aspect of her existence. Forced to examine questions about her relationship, career, and personal identity, she struggles to save her marriage while facing the most difficult fight of her life: saving herself. Duncombe’s debut, as humorous as it is harrowing, provides an insider’s view of an MSF marriage and the humanitarian crisis in East Africa. Probing deeply into her tumultuous search for identity, she captures the essence of the experience with extraordinary authenticity and honesty. An altogether life-altering journey to the core of the human soul, Trailing: A Memoir is a compulsive page-turner, as fascinating as it is life affirming.
ebook
First published May 1, 2012
65 people are currently reading
1977 people want to read
About the author
Kristin Louise Duncombe
3 books50 followersKristin Louise Duncombe is an American therapist, life coach, and writer who has lived in Europe since 2001. She has based her career on working with international and expatriate families following her own experience of growing up overseas as the child of a US diplomat, and having lived internationally most of her adult life.
Her first book Trailing: A Memoir, chronicles her experiences becoming a “trailing spouse” and following her Médecins Sans Frontières husband to the frontlines of disaster and disease in East Africa. Her second book, Five Flights Up: Sex, Love, and Family (from Paris to Lyon) provides a compelling glimpse into love, family, and sex in France, and a modern family grappling with the inevitable downs - and ups - of building a new life.
Her forthcoming title (August, 2024) OBJECT: A Memoir, has been called "a therapist's memoir" that chronicles "a global childhood marred by sexual abuse, a shocking cover up at the highest echelons of government, and a riveting tale of self-discovery and survival."
For more information and photos from Kristin's books, go to https://www.instagram.com/kristin_lou...
or
https://www.facebook.com/TrailingAMemoir
Her first book Trailing: A Memoir, chronicles her experiences becoming a “trailing spouse” and following her Médecins Sans Frontières husband to the frontlines of disaster and disease in East Africa. Her second book, Five Flights Up: Sex, Love, and Family (from Paris to Lyon) provides a compelling glimpse into love, family, and sex in France, and a modern family grappling with the inevitable downs - and ups - of building a new life.
Her forthcoming title (August, 2024) OBJECT: A Memoir, has been called "a therapist's memoir" that chronicles "a global childhood marred by sexual abuse, a shocking cover up at the highest echelons of government, and a riveting tale of self-discovery and survival."
For more information and photos from Kristin's books, go to https://www.instagram.com/kristin_lou...
or
https://www.facebook.com/TrailingAMemoir
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
March 27, 2014
I heard about this book when a friend (a relative of the author) sent me an email and asked me to help promote the book via Facebook and Twitter. I subscribe to the idea that a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle, so I jumped in with both feet.
Trailing: A Memoir written by Kristin Louise Duncombe is a brutally honest retelling of her thoughts and actions, of her fears and insecurities, and of her struggle to find her identity and path while living in East Africa with her husband, a doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières. Ms. Duncombe pulls no punches with herself or her reader and that takes real guts and is at times painful to read.
While the focus of the book is on her personal journey it does delve into the lives of the people in East Africa that she worked with. She details these interactions in a thoughtful and sensitive manner describing their struggles without patronizing them or reducing them to stereotypes. I had to keep reminding myself that the people she describes are not characters in a story, they are real and she treats them with dignity and respect which made me like her even more.
If I had to attribute a moral to this book it would be that while life can be hard, you need to work hard for the life you want. The book, at its heart, is one of hope and fighting for what’s important to you.
Trailing: A Memoir written by Kristin Louise Duncombe is a brutally honest retelling of her thoughts and actions, of her fears and insecurities, and of her struggle to find her identity and path while living in East Africa with her husband, a doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières. Ms. Duncombe pulls no punches with herself or her reader and that takes real guts and is at times painful to read.
While the focus of the book is on her personal journey it does delve into the lives of the people in East Africa that she worked with. She details these interactions in a thoughtful and sensitive manner describing their struggles without patronizing them or reducing them to stereotypes. I had to keep reminding myself that the people she describes are not characters in a story, they are real and she treats them with dignity and respect which made me like her even more.
If I had to attribute a moral to this book it would be that while life can be hard, you need to work hard for the life you want. The book, at its heart, is one of hope and fighting for what’s important to you.
January 24, 2013
This was my first venture into memoirs, and I thought it was wonderful. A depressing and heart-wrenching, though beautiful story of a trailing spouse in East Africa. It was hard to read the downward spiral of Duncombe's life and experiences, yet all the time, I was pulling for her to come out of it (alive - though clearly she did to write the book), and to finally find some happiness and meaning in her life. Perhaps I connected so much because I've struggled myself with my purpose in life.
The memoir also brings home some of the reality of what is going on in some of the poorer countries in the world, the never-ending famine and disease. We see commercials asking for us to donate and sponsor children across the globe, and yet, Duncombe is able to bring forth a simplistic, yet saddening picture of life in these countries.
I applaud Duncombe for finding the strength and courage to write this memoir, plastering her life, marital problems and all, for everyone to see...and from which to learn.
I enjoyed the straight-forward writing style, and overall really enjoyed this memoir.
The memoir also brings home some of the reality of what is going on in some of the poorer countries in the world, the never-ending famine and disease. We see commercials asking for us to donate and sponsor children across the globe, and yet, Duncombe is able to bring forth a simplistic, yet saddening picture of life in these countries.
I applaud Duncombe for finding the strength and courage to write this memoir, plastering her life, marital problems and all, for everyone to see...and from which to learn.
I enjoyed the straight-forward writing style, and overall really enjoyed this memoir.
April 26, 2015
I read this book because it was free on Kindle. I finished it in under two hours. It's not my normal genre but it was very interesting and held my attention the whole way through.
The main character marries a doctor who goes over to Africa to work. The book deals with her struggles with being isolated, the threats of violence, depression, having a child and trying to find work. It is based on some of the experiences that the author had as a wife tons doctor in Africa which made all the events believable and real.
The main character marries a doctor who goes over to Africa to work. The book deals with her struggles with being isolated, the threats of violence, depression, having a child and trying to find work. It is based on some of the experiences that the author had as a wife tons doctor in Africa which made all the events believable and real.
September 2, 2015
Easily one of the better self-published books I've read. Duncombe describes moving to Kenya, and later Uganda, as the wife of a doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières. She struggles to find a place for herself—and then, following a carjacking, struggles to battle an undiagnosed, untreated case of PTSD.
Duncombe is unflinching in her assessments: of her husband, of the way the MSF team works, of what it's like to be a 'trailing' spouse, and, perhaps most importantly, of her own reactions/decisions/emotions. She doesn't try to paint herself as either saint or victim, but rather as someone who was truly struggling and sometimes did better than other times in managing...and was sometimes more sympathetic than other times.
She has an interesting background, one not unconnected to her life as an MSF spouse—as the daughter of a U.S. Foreign Service officer, she had spent much of her childhood abroad. Her mother, too, had been a trailing wife. But diplomacy and humanitarian response are two different beasts, and—though Duncombe does not speculate, here, on struggles her mother may have had—she finds herself unprepared.
Satisfying for the messiness of the situation and characters and the thoughtfulness with which it's all put together.
Duncombe is unflinching in her assessments: of her husband, of the way the MSF team works, of what it's like to be a 'trailing' spouse, and, perhaps most importantly, of her own reactions/decisions/emotions. She doesn't try to paint herself as either saint or victim, but rather as someone who was truly struggling and sometimes did better than other times in managing...and was sometimes more sympathetic than other times.
She has an interesting background, one not unconnected to her life as an MSF spouse—as the daughter of a U.S. Foreign Service officer, she had spent much of her childhood abroad. Her mother, too, had been a trailing wife. But diplomacy and humanitarian response are two different beasts, and—though Duncombe does not speculate, here, on struggles her mother may have had—she finds herself unprepared.
Satisfying for the messiness of the situation and characters and the thoughtfulness with which it's all put together.
January 6, 2013
I bought this book after hearing Kristin Duncombe speak at an event for Anglophone therapists living in Paris. As a person who was raised moving from one country to another, a (somewhat) trailing spouse and someone who is trying to be a therapist in Paris there were many reasons why I could really relate to her experiences and the feelings of loss of sense of self when the choices you make don't feel like your own. Also unlike what another reviewer said, I don't think that this book is meant to be a description of how awful it is to live in East Africa, but rather an account of how one's mental state and feeling about their own identity colors every experience you have. This book also highlights the importance of caring for one's own mental health particularly when your work is to care for others. I read it in an hour and a half on the plane without stopping because it was so easy to read.
December 3, 2012
Fascinating exploration of personal crisis set amidst humanitarian crises.
November 14, 2012
Well written great read.
January 14, 2014
Kristin Louise Duncombe's Trailing tells the story of a young woman's discovery of herself while being married to a Médecins Sans Frontières doctor, a man who puts his own life behind saving people in poor countries. It would seem being married to a ‘saint’ should be any woman’s dream, but not true. Her husband is very self-absorbed, and displays little understanding of Kristin’s inner turmoil, even after the pressing fear she experienced when attacked by armed carjackers.
At first I became angry towards the husband, and then pitied Kristin. Later, I found myself seeing both sides. The husband started to be not a heroic doctor, but just an idealist who felt he had a calling of goodness, unfortunately these type of individuals often forget about the people who love them the most. Kristine was a woman in love, put on the back burner. Like her husband she too was self-sacrificing, but hers was never acknowledged.
The idea of moving with your husband to East Africa took a lot of guts, staying took even more. It took Kristin awhile to find herself in a foreign country in the midst of being alone and forgotten so often, and yes, sometimes she whined – so what, she’s human, and the important issue to remember is Kristin didn’t continue to whine. She persevered. Anybody with a need to be a strong independent individual, only to have that need challenged, well, you’d expect a gripe or two.
Emily Dickinson said, “People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.”
I believe this is true for Kristin. She dealt with the difficulty of finding a job over and over; settling for cleaning toilets over her true occupation for a time. She dealt with her fears after being attacked in East Africa by armed men. She dealt with Cholera, witnessing a whole camp full of sick people, seeing her husband work mercilessly, disregarding his self in the process. It’s hard to hate a guy like that, despite his flaws.
It is through all of this Kristin finds herself and answers to her marriage. This is an amazing memoir of self-discovery, its not about the explicit details of Africa and all of the problems they face each and every day. If your looking for that, then, your looking for the wrong book. This book is about real people, facing real struggles, and that is what every book should have at the heart of it.
It is well-written, and flows easily from one idea to the next. I read it in two days. It’s one of the first memoirs I’ve seen that doesn’t bombard you with exposition, but breaks it up with dialogue, and into a real story in a linear structure.
I hope to see more of Kristin Louise Duncombe's works, because now I’m trailing behind her words of wisdom to women everywhere.
At first I became angry towards the husband, and then pitied Kristin. Later, I found myself seeing both sides. The husband started to be not a heroic doctor, but just an idealist who felt he had a calling of goodness, unfortunately these type of individuals often forget about the people who love them the most. Kristine was a woman in love, put on the back burner. Like her husband she too was self-sacrificing, but hers was never acknowledged.
The idea of moving with your husband to East Africa took a lot of guts, staying took even more. It took Kristin awhile to find herself in a foreign country in the midst of being alone and forgotten so often, and yes, sometimes she whined – so what, she’s human, and the important issue to remember is Kristin didn’t continue to whine. She persevered. Anybody with a need to be a strong independent individual, only to have that need challenged, well, you’d expect a gripe or two.
Emily Dickinson said, “People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.”
I believe this is true for Kristin. She dealt with the difficulty of finding a job over and over; settling for cleaning toilets over her true occupation for a time. She dealt with her fears after being attacked in East Africa by armed men. She dealt with Cholera, witnessing a whole camp full of sick people, seeing her husband work mercilessly, disregarding his self in the process. It’s hard to hate a guy like that, despite his flaws.
It is through all of this Kristin finds herself and answers to her marriage. This is an amazing memoir of self-discovery, its not about the explicit details of Africa and all of the problems they face each and every day. If your looking for that, then, your looking for the wrong book. This book is about real people, facing real struggles, and that is what every book should have at the heart of it.
It is well-written, and flows easily from one idea to the next. I read it in two days. It’s one of the first memoirs I’ve seen that doesn’t bombard you with exposition, but breaks it up with dialogue, and into a real story in a linear structure.
I hope to see more of Kristin Louise Duncombe's works, because now I’m trailing behind her words of wisdom to women everywhere.
March 11, 2014
TRAILING a memoir
By KRISTIN LOUSIE DUNCOMBE
Sometimes the hero in a book is not the obvious one and many books recently have explored the supportive and often forgotten woman behind famous men. In her memoir Kristen Duncombe does something similar when she describes her own life trailing her husband, a doctor with Medecins Sans Frontieres. In describing Kenya, then Nairobi, Duncombe shows us a stark world, lacking food and medicine, where witchcraft and violence thrive. It is evident that Duncombe sees her husband, with his vital role and vigour, as the hero of the narrative. However. It is her own story that moves, this woman who abandons her own care path for love, and ends up struggling, battling depression and anxiety before emerging as a woman who has learned to re-define herself and her life on her own terms.
TRAILING is wonderfully written; I read it in one sitting. It speaks not just of coping with adapting to alternative cultures (something may YLC readers will identify with) but about the responsibility we need to take for our own lives, even if the parameters are set by other people.
I was fortunate enough to hear Kristin Duncombe’s book talk at Chapter 1 bookshop in Bel Air. She was engaging and funny and read several passages from TRAILING. The audience was rapt; mainly ex-pats, these were also women who had moved country to support husbands and were now re-defining their own careers.
A perfect novel for ex-pats, or for any woman who is seeking a sense of purpose.
By KRISTIN LOUSIE DUNCOMBE
Sometimes the hero in a book is not the obvious one and many books recently have explored the supportive and often forgotten woman behind famous men. In her memoir Kristen Duncombe does something similar when she describes her own life trailing her husband, a doctor with Medecins Sans Frontieres. In describing Kenya, then Nairobi, Duncombe shows us a stark world, lacking food and medicine, where witchcraft and violence thrive. It is evident that Duncombe sees her husband, with his vital role and vigour, as the hero of the narrative. However. It is her own story that moves, this woman who abandons her own care path for love, and ends up struggling, battling depression and anxiety before emerging as a woman who has learned to re-define herself and her life on her own terms.
TRAILING is wonderfully written; I read it in one sitting. It speaks not just of coping with adapting to alternative cultures (something may YLC readers will identify with) but about the responsibility we need to take for our own lives, even if the parameters are set by other people.
I was fortunate enough to hear Kristin Duncombe’s book talk at Chapter 1 bookshop in Bel Air. She was engaging and funny and read several passages from TRAILING. The audience was rapt; mainly ex-pats, these were also women who had moved country to support husbands and were now re-defining their own careers.
A perfect novel for ex-pats, or for any woman who is seeking a sense of purpose.
February 25, 2016
kindle -This memoir chronicles Kristin's experiences becoming a __trailing spouse__ and following her M_decins Sans Fronti_res husband to the front lines of disaster and disease in East Africa. A trauma of a carjacking in Nairobi, turns her time in Africa into a state of acute post-traumatic stress, and her life thereafter devolves into a world of intense anxiety that overtakes every aspect of her existence., which also effects her marriage, as her husband is often off working in a remote location. It is fascinating to see, both how she works through her problems with identity for one and the serious health issues her husband is dealing with. There is a lot more to the story which I won't divulge here.
March 24, 2015
Fast, easy read about life as a trailing wife following her husband as he pursues his career in developing countries of East Africa. Can't relate to this life or these experiences. Don't know why anyone would endure this as a career choice for themselves...let alone drag their partner along and try to raise a child in this type of environment. For me it was just okay, but not really anything special or a book I would recommend. Overall pretty depressing. Just glad they all lived to talk about it and enjoy life after.
May 10, 2015
Kristin Louise Duncombe's `Trailing' tells the story of a young woman's journey into her personal heart of darkness - not just her move to Africa, where she accompanies her husband, a dashing Argentinian doctor with Medecins Sans Frontieres, but also her plunge into the dark night of her soul as she struggles, against hugely intimidating odds, to become the woman she wants to be. Duncombe's plucky and occasionally graphic account of this globe-trotting struggle takes us to Nairobi, where she and her husband are assaulted by gun-wielding carjackers, to Mombasa, where she witnesses an encampment of people desperately ill with cholera (it's like a hospital scene from `Gone With the Wind'), and on to Kampala, where she finds work as a public health counselor. Tough questions pepper this account of a trailing spouse, all of them colored by the fact that her husband is devoting his life to saving the poorest of the poor, a factor that makes it hard for her to contest his choices and consider her own. Is it because he is working so hard that he is insensitive to her distress? That their marriage becomes increasingly rocky even as she gives birth to their first child, a beloved daughter? As Duncombe faces life-and-death challenges practically on a daily basis, she slowly gains understanding of her own strengths and abilities, and learns how to forge a satisfying life in her own right. But will the couple make it? Read the book to find out.
August 1, 2019
I had never heard the term "trailing", although I've been a trailing wife. This book covers an entire gamut of feelings, including the loss of a support network from the distance from all family and friends upon moving, loss of your personal identity, loss of self esteem and a feeling of lessened validity in thoughts, speaking and actions. This story covers several re-locations before children, after having a child, then a second. Having lived an in-transit childhood Kristin is quite in tune to ensuring her children have a home base, a structured life, then to move again. What we call "Doctors Without Borders" (and I support this organization) is an all consuming humanitarian mission that in itself unconsciously marginalizes the "relatively not so urgent" thoughts and needs of the spouse at home in relation to the insurmountable needs in the hurting world, The need to be there while those at home need to "make do". The proactive action by Kristin to find something to do to maintain her feeling of self worth and provide value to her communities serves her needs greatly. The friends she makes help enormously in obtaining a realization of balance in her life in the world. Very Glad to have read this book, I was 35 the first time I decided where I was going to move to my own. This was so fascinating I also just finished "Five Flights Up", the next book.
February 19, 2020
Oh man, I enjoyed this book. It is a very fast read and she writes in a very simple style, but I found it utterly engrossing. It's definitely written for a niche audience -- if you are not a woman who has lived in a foreign country for the sake of your male partner's job, this book is probably not for you. Still, I would highly recommend it. I definitely came away from this book thinking, 1- Thank god I don't work in international aid, 2- Thank god I don't have a boyfriend who works in international aid!! 3- It takes a lot of self-analysis to understand the reasons why "trailing" behind your partner may seem so appealing. ***** SPOILER ALERT*** I also did not think that their marriage would survive all the craziness they went through. I was shocked to reach the end of the book and find out they are still together!! It just goes to show, it takes all kinds of things to make a relationship work in the long-term.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 8, 2012
Even if you're not planning to relocate to East Africa, or Paris any time soon, this memoir of a 'trailing' spouse who made moves like those, is well worth reading. Its' inspiring life lessons, like the development of a modern woman's self-reliance, can be applied anywhere.
Published via Amazon's Create Space, this book is so new I had to enter it into the Goodreads system, a first for me. My daughter, who goes to university in Paris, told me about this book. And, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit, that Mme. Duncombe has been her therapist for the past three years. She's done a wonderful job helping another young woman growing up in a foreign environment, so she practices what she preaches. And that's probably the highest praise for a memorist!
Published via Amazon's Create Space, this book is so new I had to enter it into the Goodreads system, a first for me. My daughter, who goes to university in Paris, told me about this book. And, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit, that Mme. Duncombe has been her therapist for the past three years. She's done a wonderful job helping another young woman growing up in a foreign environment, so she practices what she preaches. And that's probably the highest praise for a memorist!
June 28, 2012
This is a very interesting book and a fast read. People can end up in the craziest situations and this is what happened to this woman. The book is a memoir but it reads like fiction. They say the truth is stranger than fiction right? Well, this book is a good example of that. A smart savvy educated woman ends up following her husband to East Africa and the chaos takes off from there.
This book offers a great snapshot of life in the Doctors Without Borders community. It is also an important look at what it means to be a woman and mother.
This book would appeal to anyone trying to find their career path, struggling with identity, PTSD, or anyone with an interest in travel, or US presence around the world.
This book offers a great snapshot of life in the Doctors Without Borders community. It is also an important look at what it means to be a woman and mother.
This book would appeal to anyone trying to find their career path, struggling with identity, PTSD, or anyone with an interest in travel, or US presence around the world.
January 8, 2013
A very interesting read, that covers a lot of terrain skillfully. I disagree with some of the more critical reviews that say the book is just negative. It is a story of a woman who survives an act of violent crime and has to pick up the pieces in a context (marital and geographic) that is really quite isolating. The book is also full of information about health problems in Africa. I really enjoyed learning about the work of Doctors without Borders and diseases such as cholera, ebola, AIDS as well as the disease that the author's husband discovers a cure for. This is not the sort of information I would have sought out so the fact that a fast paced story could also teach me so much impressed me. I would recommend this book.
February 6, 2014
This book was given to me as part of a giveaway. I found this book to be rather inspiring. The story was real and told in a very honest manner. I found the author of this story absolutely relatable. As someone who deals with anxiety and depression it was nice to see a story where the main person deals with issues in a similar manner that I do. I learned a lot about issues on a more global scale and what resources are out there to deal with these issues. I would suggest this book to my friends interested in learning about the situations in this story as well as people with problems with anxiety and depression.
June 24, 2014
Trailing is a heartfelt account of what it's like to put your dreams on the side to follow another's. Kristin becomes a trailing wife after she falls in love and marries a Medicine Sans Frontières doctor, leaving her American life behind and exchanging it for East Africa. I was overwhelmed by Kristin's candor, her fears and her struggles. The honesty in which she recounts a carjacking that sends her over the edge, the struggles with her new life and, soon, her marriage, as well as the birth of her daughter, is gripping. This is what memoir is all about. Although a different kind of journey, I recommend this book to people who related to Cheryl Strayed's WILD.
September 12, 2014
Gives some emotive accounts of the suffering people encounter in the various destinations Kristin finds herself.
Could've been a 4star rating, however the constant whining and complaining about everything just grated on me.
Update. Feel that I was being a bit harsh on Kristin. Need to re review.
Great insight into the life of the unselfish (& selfish) lives of the MSF workers and those who accompany them. Harrowing descriptions of the sick being helped by this amazing organisation. Kristin didn't know what she was letting herself in for. So on reflection she gave an undeniably honest account of her time Trailing with her husband.
Could've been a 4star rating, however the constant whining and complaining about everything just grated on me.
Update. Feel that I was being a bit harsh on Kristin. Need to re review.
Great insight into the life of the unselfish (& selfish) lives of the MSF workers and those who accompany them. Harrowing descriptions of the sick being helped by this amazing organisation. Kristin didn't know what she was letting herself in for. So on reflection she gave an undeniably honest account of her time Trailing with her husband.
July 24, 2012
Trailing is fast-paced, poignant, honest, and hard to put down. I have yet to find another book about Kenya that has captured my attention so well.
Duncombe writes so honestly about her struggle with PTSD and anxiety after she is carjacked in Nairobi. Likewise, she lets the reader into the world of her marital challenges. As a trailing spouse, I'm so grateful for her honesty and her reflections, but I think many people can relate to Duncombe's struggles, and find hope in her eventual triumphs.
She is a talented storyteller with a great story to tell.
Duncombe writes so honestly about her struggle with PTSD and anxiety after she is carjacked in Nairobi. Likewise, she lets the reader into the world of her marital challenges. As a trailing spouse, I'm so grateful for her honesty and her reflections, but I think many people can relate to Duncombe's struggles, and find hope in her eventual triumphs.
She is a talented storyteller with a great story to tell.
September 9, 2014
I recieved this book in Goodreads Giveaway from Kristen Louise Duncombe!! Thank you so much for choosing me!
Kristen Louise Duncombe has a winner in this Memoir!! It was so good that I would forget that she was actually a real person! It is a truly amazing story of self discovery. I love how brutally honest she was with her struggles and experiences. The book has a great flow to it and was hard to put down! How many memoirs can you say that about? This book will definitely go on my bookshelf so I can revisit any time I want!! A must read for anyone who loves a great story!
Kristen Louise Duncombe has a winner in this Memoir!! It was so good that I would forget that she was actually a real person! It is a truly amazing story of self discovery. I love how brutally honest she was with her struggles and experiences. The book has a great flow to it and was hard to put down! How many memoirs can you say that about? This book will definitely go on my bookshelf so I can revisit any time I want!! A must read for anyone who loves a great story!
December 23, 2012
This book was a wild ride through the marriage of the author and her husband, A Doctors Without Borders doctor. When you are a trailing wife you follow your husband around the world to wherever his job takes him. You take a backseat to his life. You live in dangerous countries and are often alone while your husband is out in the countryside working. While the trailing life is exotic, the problems it creates in a marriage are not so different from any other marriage.
January 20, 2013
I absolutely loved this memoir. Ms. Duncombe touches on her experiences as an diplomatic child living overseas and then, later, as a trailing spouse living in Africa with her Doctors Without Borders husband. Her story is honest and heartfelt and inspiring. This is a woman's journey through darkness, looking for a light at the end of the tunnel.
Ms. Duncombe's memoir is so well written, it was hard to put down. Fantastic read!
Ms. Duncombe's memoir is so well written, it was hard to put down. Fantastic read!
March 18, 2015
This book begins with a cliffhanger and continued to capture my attention the entire way through. There were so many things I related to - I also did humanitarian work in Africa, spending some of those months in Nairobi. I am also married to a foreigner, and live in France as an expat (and, in some ways, a trailing spouse). I identified with every struggle she went through, and rejoiced with her victories at the end. Well-written!
January 8, 2013
Best book I've found so far that shows the inside of the medical aid world (Doctors without borders and a bit about US government aid). I don't usually get too interested in stories about relationship and marriage, but thought this book did a very good job of showing the strain that this type of lifestyle can put on a relationship, as well as the impact of violent crime.
March 12, 2013
This is a great memoir. Especially relevant to expats, the author's narrative is gripping for any reader. In addition to the obvious themes of expat life, marriage issues, and recovering from a traumatizing event, this memoir explores the transcendent theme of re-inventing oneself in the face of overwhelming obstacles. So, it is a highly recommended read for anyone!
March 21, 2013
After reading Hope in Hell, I found this book, and really enjoyed it. It is a more personal account of Doctors without Borders, giving the viewpoint of a spouse whom followed her husband to Africa. It details the struggles of their relationship, and how trailing her husband effected her, and their relationship. Two thumbs up- check it out (I would think this is a girl book though).
June 1, 2014
A vividly written, courageously honest account of the difficulties of adjusting to a new life. Whether changing country as a trailing spouse or independently, the stress and shock of new culture + no support system can be devastating. Kristin Louise Duncombe reveals the interior games played and exterior damage wrought. An excellent and entertaining memoir with perceptive insight on every page.
December 30, 2012
Tedious reading, but I connected with the story that could have been written about my life, trailing my father through his military career. It is about persevering for your partner, letting go, then realizing how to coexist in a relationship for years.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews