What if the person you love envisions a different life than the one you do—in a different country with different religious views? In this experimental “memoir in miniature” titled Places We Left Behind, Jennifer Lang shares the complexities of navigating the hopes, expectations, and realities within a bicultural marriage as she relates growing apart—and together—in a relationship.
Places We Left Behind is a memoir of intersecting lives and opposing ideals. It’s a classic story of opposites attract, where the opposites are religion (observant immigrant versus secular tourist), country (America versus France), and what it means to belong to yourself and your marriage.
In her riveting memoir, Places We Left Behind, Jennifer Lang crafts an inspiring narrative about love’s resilience in the face of geographical distances, cultural differences, and familial challenges. Lang explores her journey across three continents, juggling the upbringing of three children and managing the complexities of divergent religious beliefs. This tightly packed memoir resonates with poignant undertones of homesickness and self-sacrifice, revealing the remarkable strength of a woman who ceaselessly prioritizes her family’s welfare over her personal needs.
In experimental chapterettes, American-born Jennifer Lang traces her seven-year journey—both on and off a yoga mat—reckoning with her adopted country/Israel, her inherited religion/Judaism, midlife hormones/menopause, and imminent empty nest/inevitable. After three decades of moving cities, countries, and continents first alone then with her French husband and their three children, she doesn’t know how to plant roots. Thanks to yoga teachings, emotional fortitude, and a spouse who supports her yen to reclaim her secular self in their mixed marriage, she finally understands home is more about who you are than where you live.
