Footsteps [Paperback]

Susan M. Tiberghien (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2004

Susan Tiberghien´s poetic memoir evokes a life fully lived and closely observed. In elegant prose and poetry, she presents the landscapes of her time with fresh eyes, gentle humor, and a generous spirit. The rooftops of Grenoble, the hills above Lago Maggiore, Geneva in its white fog, are the settings for a French-American romance, an international domestic tale, full of children and laughter, and at the end a new direction and revelation. Footsteps, A European Album is a wise book, and a pleasure to read.

Peter Meinke, The Piano Tuner, Zinc Fingers

In this album of wonderfully witty and poignant essays, S.Tiberghien captures stories from thirty-five years of family life in Europe. The collection describes a love story and from that matrix a meditation about many kinds of love. Light and dark days, funny and momentous ones are celebrated as faith and an energetic capacity for friendship define the family´s cross-cultural path. The pages fly by and before we know it, the six children have grown. In the new silence, familiar footsteps insist that she write.

WallisWilde-Menozzi, Mother Tongue, An American Life in Italy

Susan M. Tiberghien, American-born writer living in Switzerland, has published two memoirs, Looking for Gold (Daimon Verlag, 1997) and Circling to the Center (Paulist Press, 2001) and many narrative essays in journals and anthologies. She teaches workshops for the International Women's Writing Guild and C.G. Jung Centers in the USA, and for the Geneva Writers' Group and writers' conferences in Europe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (March 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141343424X
• ISBN-13: 978-1413434248
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #940,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Tiberghien, an American writer living in Geneva, Switzerland, is the author of three memoirs--Looking for Gold, Circling to the Center, and Footsteps---and the best-selling One Year to a Writing Life. Her narrative essays are widely published in journals and anthologies. She teaches creative writing at writers centers (Grub Street, Hudson Valley, Bethesda), writers conferences for the International Women's Writing Guild, and at CG Jung Institutes. She founded and directs the Geneva Writers Group and Conferences. She recently celebrated 50 years of marriage to her French husband. Their six children, plus spouses,and fifteen grandkids were present! www.susantiberghien.com; www.genevawritersgroup.org

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Footsteps - like coming home, July 7, 2004

By 

Kathleen Walsh (Fredericksburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Footsteps (Paperback)

Susan Tiberghien's Footsteps is the finely crafted work of a gifted writer, clear mind, and sharp wit. One opens the book and is immediately in good company. Splendid writing, never once telling, every page showing, describing; the reader becomes part of the conversations. And what conversations! Madame Tiberghien, who offers the writer a bed on the eve of her own daughter's death. Madame Michel, the neighbor; would that I know her and her garlic! And you just want to stand up and cheer for Pierre Yves who planted American corn for his American wife's bizzare dining habit. It was a joy for this reader to sit at the table. I laughed. I was at home.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quiet Empowerment: A Family Woman's Journey, August 2, 2004

By 

D H MELHEM "poet, writer" (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Footsteps (Paperback)

The writing is brilliant--I couldn't put the book down. What a picture it gives of a busy and caring life within an international context. And how much of that life was submerged
for years, until the author's work was done, raising a wonderful family.
I love the poetic vignettes. The photographs contribute images that complement the text. What a loving and dutiful wife, mother, daughter-in-law! An elegant restraint makes the few, critical passages (the mild outburst over the instant mashed potatoes for Mothers' Day!) more telling. And the quiet wisdom in finding solutions, like the second potato
peeler for her husband. Tiberghien's story of achieving a successful marriage is the sturdy subtext of this memoir. I admire the work unreservedly.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Follow Her Footsteps, June 10, 2004

By 

Jo Ann Hansen-Rasch (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Footsteps (Hardcover)

Footsteps is not only a well-written memoir - a mosaic of vibrant stories - it is, of course, revealing of the author. Having just finished Hillary Clinton's autobiography I realize that both she and Susan Tiberghien have that backbone of steel and faith, wrapped in generous love, which once belonged to the British Empire Englishwoman and now belongs to some American women. In today's world, Footsteps is an inspiring tonic.