Book Details:
Book Title: A Rendezvous to Remember: A Memoir of Joy and Heartache at the Dawn of the Sixties by Terry Marshall, Ann Garretson Marshall
Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18 +), 18 yrs +, 378 pages
Genre: Memoir, Romance
Publisher: Sandra Jonas Publishing
Release date: Feb 2021
Content Rating: R. This memoir contains mature themes, explicit sex scenes, one f-word, and occasional profanity.
Book Description:
In June 1964, Ann Garretson skips her college commencement to tour Europe with Lieutenant Jack Sigg, a tank commander on the German-Czech border, with the hope of returning as his fiancée. A month later, her best friend, Terry, proposes marriage—by mail—throwing all their lives into turmoil.
Jack offers the military life Ann grew up with. Terry, a conscientious objector, will leave for the Peace Corps at the end of the summer—unless the draft board intervenes and sends him to jail. Her dilemma: she loves them both. Caught between the old mores and winds of change, Ann must make an agonizing choice.
In alternating voices, A Rendezvous to Remember presents firsthand accounts by the two who eventually married, enriched by letters from the rival, whose path led him elsewhere. Provocative and delightfully uncensored, this coming-of-age memoir is a tribute to the enduring power of love and family.
In June 1964, Ann Garretson skips her college commencement to tour Europe with Lieutenant Jack Sigg, a tank commander on the German-Czech border, with the hope of returning as his fiancée. A month later, her best friend, Terry, proposes marriage—by mail—throwing all their lives into turmoil.
Jack offers the military life Ann grew up with. Terry, a conscientious objector, will leave for the Peace Corps at the end of the summer—unless the draft board intervenes and sends him to jail. Her dilemma: she loves them both. Caught between the old mores and winds of change, Ann must make an agonizing choice.
In alternating voices, A Rendezvous to Remember presents firsthand accounts by the two who eventually married, enriched by letters from the rival, whose path led him elsewhere. Provocative and delightfully uncensored, this coming-of-age memoir is a tribute to the enduring power of love and family.
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BAM ~ B&N ~ IndieBound
add to Goodreads
Meet the Authors:
Terry Marshall and Ann Garretson Marshall taught English in the Philippines as Peace Corps volunteers and later served as Peace Corps country co-directors in the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Tuvalu. Back in the States, they worked side by side as community organizers and activists in Colorado. Terry went on to write fiction and nonfiction works on discrimination, poverty, rural development, and intercultural conflict. Ann has thirty years of experience as a writer, editor, and community-government go-between for issues related to nuclear and hazardous waste cleanup. Always seeking adventure, Terry and Ann have traveled to forty-three countries. They live in Las Vegas, Nevada.
connect with the authors: website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram
Terry Marshall and Ann Garretson Marshall taught English in the Philippines as Peace Corps volunteers and later served as Peace Corps country co-directors in the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Tuvalu. Back in the States, they worked side by side as community organizers and activists in Colorado. Terry went on to write fiction and nonfiction works on discrimination, poverty, rural development, and intercultural conflict. Ann has thirty years of experience as a writer, editor, and community-government go-between for issues related to nuclear and hazardous waste cleanup. Always seeking adventure, Terry and Ann have traveled to forty-three countries. They live in Las Vegas, Nevada.
connect with the authors: website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram
What are the main takeaways you hope your readers will get from A Rendezvous to Remember?
Ann. 1. Love can be powerful: listen with your heart, but season those feelings with common sense! 2. Marriage is about more than choosing a partner. It also involves choosing—and embracing—a way of life. 3. Listen to your social conscience: you have to live with your decisions of conscience the rest of your life. 4. Dare to be adventurous, but temper that with good judgment also!
There’s a lot of dialogue in A Rendezvous to Remember. How could you possibly remember conversations you had 50 years ago?
Terry. We’d like to claim we have exceptional memories, but no, we don’t. Fortunately we have a trove of letters between Ann and me, as well as between Jack and Ann, and many hours of Jack’s cassette letters to Ann. They sparked memories. Plus, they provided us with exact language we could use to reconstruct those long-ago conversations. We also use quotes from a number of those letters.
How were you able to write about past loves without stirring up jealousy?
Ann. Love and common sense can take you a long way. Love has always bound Terry and me together, so I have never felt threatened by his past girlfriends. Common sense made me realize he and I are so close I would probably feel a bond with someone he loved. And when I met Laura Lee, I was right! She remains a dear friend to both of us.
A Rendezvous to Remember includes material that reflects badly on your main characters—that is, on you, the authors! Why did you include those actions and thoughts?
Terry. Writing the book was a process of discovery. We wanted to explore how we ended up being a couple. We could learn that only by examining every facet of our lives and the relevant events going on around us. We, too, have made mistakes. Without recognizing and coming to terms with that, the book would not have been authentic.
What was the scariest thing you did during the period covered in A Rendezvous to Remember?
Ann. Venturing into Communist East Berlin (before the wall fell) by myself, on foot, without being able to speak German, and without knowing how to get to my destination (the Pergamon Museum). And then on my way out, I took a pamphlet that didn’t belong to me. That was worse than scary. It was so stupid that I can’t speak about it! I thought I was going to die of anxiety. Read the book for the full story.
