Our site will be undergoing maintenance from 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 20. During this time, Bookshop, checkout, and other features will be unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Cookies must be enabled to use this website.
My Checkered Life
A Marriage Memoir
by Marian Beaman

Overview


Expect to laugh and cry and experience many emotions in between as you take an insider look into a long marriage between opposites: plain Mennonite girl from the East coast merging with off-beat pioneer type from the West. Sparks fly, sometimes igniting arguments, other times finding harmony. Discover how their early commitment is sustained by mutual love and trust. Book includes 126 illustrations including art work by the author’s husband.

Read more

Description


Take an intimate look into one couple's fifty-plus-year marriage in author Marian Beaman's My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir. Using a quilt motif, the author stitches together stories that make up the fabric of their daily lives including the clash of cultures, crisis in a travel trailer, surviving a robbery, and enduring financial hardship. Discover how the author and her husband learn the art of the argument with explosions both literal and metaphorical. Observe how they find common ground through their shared faith and commitment. This volume contains excerpts from autograph books and diaries of the early 1900s, treasured family recipes, original artwork, and restored photographs—the legacy of multiple generations as two American families merge, one from the East, the other from the West. The author connects the dots of her life backwards, with detailed reverse engineering of events to discover meaning in her life as a wife. Readers of Marian's first memoir, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl can especially relate to her insider narrative, a closeup of one couple's companionable union.
Read more

About the author


Award-winning teacher-turned-storyteller, Marian Beaman is enjoying her encore career as a writer. A former college professor, the author records the charms and challenges of growing up plain in mid-twentieth century Pennsylvania in Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl. This memoir tells the story of her transformation from a provincial young woman in a sheltered environment who finds her authentic self. Along the way, she discovers a path toward forgiveness of childhood abuse. She also shows how one's growth can include respect for the past. My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir takes an intimate look into one couple's fifty-plus-year marriage. Using a quilt motif, the author stitches together stories that make up the fabric of their daily lives: the clash of cultures, crisis in a travel trailer, surviving a robbery, and enduring financial hardship. Readers can observe how they find common ground through their shared faith and commitment. This sequel includes curated diary entries and treasured recipes while it also encourages reflection. The author blogs regularly at marianbeaman.com
Read more

Book details

Genre:BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Subgenre:Personal Memoirs

Language:English

Pages:352

Paperback ISBN:9781733585224


Overview


Expect to laugh and cry and experience many emotions in between as you take an insider look into a long marriage between opposites: plain Mennonite girl from the East coast merging with off-beat pioneer type from the West. Sparks fly, sometimes igniting arguments, other times finding harmony. Discover how their early commitment is sustained by mutual love and trust. Book includes 126 illustrations including art work by the author’s husband.

Read more

Description


Take an intimate look into one couple's fifty-plus-year marriage in author Marian Beaman's My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir. Using a quilt motif, the author stitches together stories that make up the fabric of their daily lives including the clash of cultures, crisis in a travel trailer, surviving a robbery, and enduring financial hardship. Discover how the author and her husband learn the art of the argument with explosions both literal and metaphorical. Observe how they find common ground through their shared faith and commitment. This volume contains excerpts from autograph books and diaries of the early 1900s, treasured family recipes, original artwork, and restored photographs—the legacy of multiple generations as two American families merge, one from the East, the other from the West. The author connects the dots of her life backwards, with detailed reverse engineering of events to discover meaning in her life as a wife. Readers of Marian's first memoir, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl can especially relate to her insider narrative, a closeup of one couple's companionable union.

Read more

About the author


Award-winning teacher-turned-storyteller, Marian Beaman is enjoying her encore career as a writer. A former college professor, the author records the charms and challenges of growing up plain in mid-twentieth century Pennsylvania in Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl. This memoir tells the story of her transformation from a provincial young woman in a sheltered environment who finds her authentic self. Along the way, she discovers a path toward forgiveness of childhood abuse. She also shows how one's growth can include respect for the past. My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir takes an intimate look into one couple's fifty-plus-year marriage. Using a quilt motif, the author stitches together stories that make up the fabric of their daily lives: the clash of cultures, crisis in a travel trailer, surviving a robbery, and enduring financial hardship. Readers can observe how they find common ground through their shared faith and commitment. This sequel includes curated diary entries and treasured recipes while it also encourages reflection. The author blogs regularly at marianbeaman.com
Read more