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Books about new beginnings in new places?


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Hi everyone,

 

I'm about to move to NZ to take up a job, and quite fancy reading about similar experiences - either fiction, or biographical.

I'm getting the nerves now, so it'd be good to read something encouraging! :smile2:

 

I remember reading something a few years ago - fictional - about an American girl that moved to Switzerland or somewhere after a break up. It was really good, can't remember what it was called, but anything similar would be great!

 

Can anyone recommend anything?

 

Thanks!

Gemma

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I haven't read it yet, but The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay is meant to be pretty good; the Amazon synopsis goes as follows:

 

At eighteen, Rosemary arrives in New York from Tasmania with little more than her love of books and an eagerness to explore the city she's read so much about. The moment she steps into the Arcade bookstore, she knows she has found a home. The gruff owner, Mr. Pike, gives her a job sorting through huge piles of books and helping the rest of the staff -- a group as odd and idiosyncratic as the characters in a Dickens novel. There's Pearl, the loving, motherly transsexual who runs the cash register; Oscar, who shares his extensive, eclectic knowledge with Rosemary, but furiously rejects her attempts at a more personal relationship; and Arthur Pick, who supervises the art section and demonstrates a particular interest in photography books featuring naked men. The store manager Walter Geist is an albino, a lonely figure even within the world of the Arcade. When Walter's eyesight begins to fail, Rosemary becomes his assistant. And so it is Rosemary who first reads the letter from someone seeking to 'place' a lost manuscript by Herman Melville. Mentioned in Melville's personal correspondence but never published, the work is of inestimable value, and proof of its existence brings the simmering ambitions and rivalries of the Arcade staff to a boiling point. Based on actual documents the author found while doing research on Melville, 'The Secret of Lost Things' is at once a literary adventure that captures the excitement of discovering a long-lost manuscript, and an evocative portrait of life in a bookshop.

 

Sounds good, doesn't it :smile2:?

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I love these type of books, and have read quite a few! Some of the more memorable ones are:

 

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle (France)

Italian Neighbours and An Italian Education by Tim Parks (Italy)

Extra Virgin and Ripe For The Picking by Annie Hawes (Italy)

Driving Over Lemons, A Parrot in the Pepper Tree and The Apple Blossom Appreciation Society by Chris Stewart (Spain)

Almost French: A New Life In Paris by Sarah Turnbull (France)

Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes (Italy)

 

Obviously there's a European bias here, and they're all non-fiction (I think I found them all in the Travel Writing section in book shops) but these are the best of the ones I've read.

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Carol Drinkwater and the The Olive Farm trilogy is very good. Carol Drinkwater, better known probably as an actress, tells the tale of her real-life romance between herself and Michel a television producer and their olive farm in Provencal.

 

This was a book I couldn't put down. It takes you to the mediterranean world of living and tells of their ups and downs of living there and trying to get this farm up and running. It has a few tears on the way but once read I had to go straight onto the sequel.

Edited by Inver
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Thank you for the suggestions everyone! I'll definitely look into some of those!

I like the sound of the American Brat!

 

I've actually been reading 'Brooklyn' by Colm Toibin which I am nearly at the end of (I only started it three days ago!) but have really enjoyed.

 

It's quite old fashioned in it's style but is a gentle and beautiful story, and as the heroine prepares to leave Ireland for Brooklyn it definitely resonated with my own emotions!! :)

I'd recommend it as an easy but enjoyable book to read!

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Hi everybody,

 

I'm about to move to New Zealand to start a new life and wondered if there might be any books out there with characters in similar situations. I remember reading one a few years ago about a girl that moved abroad after a failed relationship, and I loved it.

 

I'd prefer fiction... and prefer it to have a happy ending!! I am getting nervous about my own move and so it'd be good to read something encouraging! :D

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