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Worlds Apart: A Third Culture Kid's Journey Paperback – February 26, 2018

by Marilyn R Gardner (Author), Rachel Pieh Jones (Foreword)

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This sequel to Marilyn Gardner's Between Worlds probes deeply into the journey that forms a third culture kid’s identity. Gardner weaves together memories of joy and pain, close friendships and loneliness in a compelling portrait of an international childhood. From the close quarters of boarding school, to the strangeness of furloughs in her parents’ native Massachusetts, Worlds Apart is an honest and moving portrayal of a young girl’s struggles with faith, friendship, and belonging. The book offers an inspiring model for other third culture kids seeking to make sense of their unique experience, and the final chapter brings together many practical resources to help TCKs navigate their own journey.

"This is a book that shows the complications of a challenging childhood, the healing power of a faithful life, and the precious gifts Third Culture Kids are to the world." Rachel Pieh Jones, from the Foreword

"Part spiritual reflection, part childhood reminiscence and part travelogue, Marilyn’s book will be especially welcomed by those trying to make sense of their own personal stories, especially if they involve transitions across multiple cultures and geographic locations." Ambassador Jonathan Addleton, author of The Dust of Kandahar and Some Far and Distant Place

Worlds Apart incorporates material previously published by Doorlight Publications under the title Passages Through Pakistan.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

[Worlds Apart] tells the captivating story of Marilyn Gardner's childhood as a 'third culture kid', raised by her Christian, American missionary parents in the heart of Pakistan. Gardner's eloquent story of the trials, tribulations, and lessons of growing up as a bridge between these rich cultures serves as an important lens through which Americans and Pakistanis can learn more about one another and their important long-term partnership in a time when the gap between the two nations seems to be growing ever larger.... Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University, Washington, D.C

From the Author

While my book Between Worlds - Essays on Culture and Belonging is a series of reflections on growing up overseas and then living overseas as an adult, this new book Worlds Apart - A Third Culture Kid's Journey is a memoir and more chronological account of those years from birth to age 18. There is no single story in the third culture kid narrative, rather we each have our own unique stories, but my hope is that readers can connect with my story and some of the common themes of a third culture identity shaped by many places and events. My hope is also that readers will see the country of Pakistan in a much more nuanced way than the mainstream media portrays. I am ever grateful to Pakistan - Land of the Pure - for her never ending hospitality, her beauty, and her love.

It is important to note that the initial part of the book was previously published under the title Passages Through Pakistan. This new edition has a foreword by Rachel Pieh Jones and a section at the end on Writing Your Own Story.

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Product details

Paperback: 238 pages
Publisher: Doorlight Publications; Previously Titled Passages Thr ed. edition (February 26, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0998223328
ISBN-13: 978-0998223322
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #968,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1607 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Ministry & Evangelism > Missions & Missionary Work
- #30702 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Memoirs
- #38997 in Books > Parenting & Relationships

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DSchmidt

If you've been a TCK, or know a TCK...

May 9, 2018

Format: Paperback

Reading "Worlds Apart" brought back memories of my own time growing up outside the US—my ‘passport country’, to use the author’s phrase. My life was different from Marilyn Gardner’s, but the way she talks about her experiences resonates with what I remember, too. As Gardner explains, that’s typical for third culture kids: the particulars vary, but most TCKs carry a sense of rootlessness, most of them feel like they’re ‘in between’, most of them struggle with answering the question, “where are you from?”.

Gardner writes in a captivating way about being raised in Pakistan—and while this book reads like both a travelogue and a memoir, complete with the sights, sounds, and smells of a ‘foreign’ culture, "Worlds Apart" really wants to reflect on the third culture kid experience. What’s it like to grow up in a place that’s ‘foreign’ to your parents—people who, because they are missionaries, government officials, military personnel, or business people, move overseas and raise their kids in one or more countries outside their ‘passport culture’—but also never fully ‘home’ for you?

"Worlds Apart" joins other similarly-themed books in examining an experience that is both shared by many and misunderstood by many. As such, it offers comfort and clarity: if you’re a TCK, you’ll resonate with Gardner’s descriptions of boarding school, ‘strange’ food, coming to grips with learning new languages and cultures, and a steady stream of ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’; if you’re friends with or related to a TCK, you’ll get a better grip on why they can figure out international travel but not know how to drive, or why they want to go somewhere else or do something different every couple of years.

I came across Gardner’s writing through an article on "saudade"—a Portuguese term for the homesickness people feel even when they’re around those they love. That led me to this book, which I’ll be recommending to TCKs and those in their orbit. "Worlds Apart" is a great resource for appreciating the TCK experience—and a trustworthy companion for jogging memories that have lain dormant for too long.

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RJones

For Third Culture Kids and anyone who loves them

March 6, 2018

Format: Paperback

Worlds Apart is a wonderful book for Third Culture Kids and their parents, for churches, for people who live internationally and for the people who send them out, who love them, who pray for them. It isn’t always an easy read because Marilyn doesn’t gloss over the hard parts of her childhood but it is a hopeful read, because she finds grace, joy, God, and redemption right in those hard parts.

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L Ferland

A vivid, powerful, and emotional view of a missionary childhood in Pakistan

May 25, 2018

Format: Paperback

Marilyn's writing is so vivid, rich, and full of emotion that it is impossible not to get swept away in her childhood memories of Pakistan. Each page is thick with spiritual reflection mixed with the emotional mess that comes with childhood memories. She so beautifully describes those awkward teenage years that we'd all rather forget and humbly admits her arrogance which caused me to reflect on my own ridiculously arrogant moments. It's a treasure to view Pakistan through Marilyn's eyes and her experience as a missionary family. What a world to step into and experience for a short time.

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Jerry Jones

... does this thing -- where she makes you feel like her story is your story

May 23, 2018

Format: Paperback

Marilyn does this thing -- where she makes you feel like her story is your story. Worlds Apart connects and draws you in personally and intimately but also offers a broader, big picture perspective of TCK life. My favorite line in the whole book? "Bearable? Bearable? . . . it was more than bearable. My childhood was extraordinary." As a parent of TCK's that line and this book gives me hope that we can do more than break even.

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