new from NICHOLAS BREALEY INTERCULTURAL

UNROOTED CHILDHOODS

MEMOIRS OF GROWING UP GLOBAL

Original Contributions from Carlos Fuentes, Pat Conroy, Isabel Allende and many others
Edited by Faith Eidse & Nina Sichel

"A poignant chronicle of the diaspora of the heart - and the heart's quest and longing for that universal place called home."
Ken Wells, Front Page Editor, The Wall Street Journal

"Each [ Third Culture Kid ] has his or her own unique story, but the shared experience of this cultural group furnishes clarity and perspective as well as comfort and encouragement. This book... is valuable to TCKs of all ages and to those who need and want to understand."
David Pollock, Executive Director, Interaction International, Inc., coauthor of Third Culture Kids

Unrooted Childhoods is a rich selection of 22 memoirs from such well-known international authors as Carlos Fuentes, Pat Conroy and Isabel Allende as well as journalists, artists and adults from diverse backgrounds trying to make sense of their unique life stories. They explore the unique and, at turns, devastating and life-enhancing effect that a nomadic childhood can have.

With their identities built piece by cultural piece, the authors of these memoirs recall the benefits and the pain of growing up without the chance to "put down roots". They are "unrooted" children who grow up without having the sense of home and often without knowing who they are.

This book is divided into four sections focusing on the most commonly shared themes of the unrooted child's experience: enrichment, estrangement, rootlessness and identity. The individual contributors explore the importance of language, the duality of loyalties, estrangement and loneliness, and portable identities that come with the unpredictability of nomadic life.

"Unrooted Childhoods offers exquisite illustration of the global nomad experience. Readers who lived the life will... see reflected the many dimensions of their own unrooted childhoods."
Barbara Schaetti, Ph.D., The Crestone Institute.

Ruth Van Reken, who has made a career of understanding the nomad experience and is co-author of Third Culture Kids, is one of the contributors. All these memoirs help adult nomads, whether they be TCKs or not, experience a sense of recognition and emotional kinship with their authors. And for those who have not been nomads, their stories are simply a great read.