August 4, 1987
A bestseller in West Germany since it was first published in 1949 (with 400,000 copies sold), this book grew out of the many letters sent by the author to her husband's parents about their life in the U.S. Carl Zuckmayer (a successful playwright in Europe) and his wife, Alice, had fled the Nazis in 1939, moving at first to California, and eventually to Vermont's Green Mountains. In a charming and heartwarming way, she recalls their struggle to live in northern New England, where, as she puts it, "the winters are long and unimaginably cold.'' At first the pair felt isolated (the first snowfall coincides with the news of the U.S. declaration of war against Nazi Germany), but the installation of telephone service puts them in touch with their neighbors. The Zuckmayers' courage and strength is an inspiration to all who may be set in unfamiliar surroundings, even in their own country.