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Dear Exile: The Story of a Friendship Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean (Vintage Departures)

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Dear Exile: The Story of a Friendship Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean (Vintage Departures) Cover

ISBN13: 9780375703676
ISBN10: 0375703675
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A funny and moving story told through the letters of two women nurturing a friendship as they are separated by distance, experience, and time.

Close friends and former college roommates, Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery promised to write when Kate's Peace Corps assignment took her to Africa.  Over the course of a single year, they exchanged an offbeat and moving series of letters from rural Kenya to New York City and back again.

Kate, an idealistic teacher, meets unexpected realities ranging from poisonous snakes and vengeful cows to more serious hazards: a lack of money for education; a student body in revolt.  Hilary, braving the singles scene in Manhattan, confronts her own realities, from unworthy suitors to job anxiety and first apartment woes.  Their correspondence tells--with humor, warmth, and vivid personal detail--the story of two young women navigating their twenties in very different ways, and of the very special friendships we are sometimes lucky enough to find.

Review:

"Engaging travel literature, a witty exploration of modern women's lives, and a testament to the power and blessing of friendship." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"These letters are witty, real, charming, smart, touching, and amazingly unselfconscious. Truly, Dear Exile was for me love at first word." Elinor Lipman, author of Isabel's Bed

Review:

"I love Dear Exile, and I love the women in it. I opened it one afternoon, then just couldn't put it down. Here is a girlfriend relationship that I actually recognize. Their humor, love, and world view is to me, simply, perfection." Whitney Otto, author of How to Make an American Quilt

Review:

"Throughout the exchange, both women combine humor and gravity in describing the challenges they face. Dear Exile is most striking for the global perspective it offers readers in juxtaposing Liftin's urban woes with the hardships faced by Montgomery and her Kenyan neighbors." Jane Manners, Brill's Content

Review:

"A nearly perfect book about the sweet pleasure of friendship. Reading [Dear Exile] is like spending time with a smart, affectionate, perceptive, effortlessly funny companion....The letters [are] like an uninterrupted conversation that never loses its harmony, with longing and affection and that quick, beautifully calibrated code in which best friends speak." San Francisco Chronicle

Review:

"Elegantly written, this correspondence reads like miniature essays on subjects as diverse as loneliness, clementines, the joy (and pain) of cybersex, and how to behave while one's concrete hut is being exorcised. Above all, this book affirms the power of friendship as expressed in the nearly lost art of letter writing." Kirkus Reviews
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About the Author

Hilary Liftin grew up in Washington, DC. In 1991 she graduated from Yale University, where she was the editor of the Yale Literary Magazine. She has worked in book publishing as an associate editor of nonfiction and literary fiction and as an editor/producer at several websites. She currently develops online products for Muze, a provider of digital information about music, videos and books, in New York City.

Kate Montgomery was raised in Wakefield, Rhode Island. She studied at Yale and Columbia Universiities, and has spent time teaching in both Czechoslovakia and Kenya. Kate has previously co-authored a non-fiction book A Teacher's Guide to Standardized Reading Tests. She is currently on leave from her job as a high school English teacher in Harlem to raise, with her husband David Hackenburg, their new son, Kobi.

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Beth, August 23, 2006 (view all comments by Beth)
A great read about true friendship and the dealings of life. Kate's letters about her and her husband's life as they work for a year in the Peace Corp contrasts Hilary's day to day troubles about men and work in the city. This read gives great perspective about the lives of two friends who share a bond that spans an ocean.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780375703676
Prologue:
Montgomery, Kate
Author:
Montgomery, Kate
Author:
Liftin, Hilary
Author:
Montgomery, Kate
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Location:
New York :
Subject:
Description and travel
Subject:
Social life and customs
Subject:
Women
Subject:
Travelers
Subject:
Kenya
Subject:
New York
Subject:
Africa - Kenya
Subject:
Ramisi (Kenya) Description and travel.
Subject:
Ramisi
Subject:
Africa - East - Kenya
Subject:
Correspondence
Subject:
New York (N.Y.) Social life and customs.
Subject:
Ramisi (Kenya) Social life and customs.
Subject:
Biography-Women
Copyright:
1999
Edition Number:
1st ed.
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series:
Vintage Departures Original
Publication Date:
19990431
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
208
Dimensions:
7.98x5.22x.60 in. .52 lbs.
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Related Subjects


Biography » Women
History and Social Science » Africa » Kenya
History and Social Science » World History » Africa
Travel » Travel Writing » Africa and Middle East
Travel » Travel Writing » General

Dear Exile: The Story of a Friendship Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean (Vintage Departures) Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$4.50 In Stock
Product details 208 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780375703676 Reviews:
"Review" by , "Engaging travel literature, a witty exploration of modern women's lives, and a testament to the power and blessing of friendship."
"Review" by , "These letters are witty, real, charming, smart, touching, and amazingly unselfconscious. Truly, Dear Exile was for me love at first word."
"Review" by , "I love Dear Exile, and I love the women in it. I opened it one afternoon, then just couldn't put it down. Here is a girlfriend relationship that I actually recognize. Their humor, love, and world view is to me, simply, perfection."
"Review" by , "Throughout the exchange, both women combine humor and gravity in describing the challenges they face. Dear Exile is most striking for the global perspective it offers readers in juxtaposing Liftin's urban woes with the hardships faced by Montgomery and her Kenyan neighbors."
"Review" by , "A nearly perfect book about the sweet pleasure of friendship. Reading [Dear Exile] is like spending time with a smart, affectionate, perceptive, effortlessly funny companion....The letters [are] like an uninterrupted conversation that never loses its harmony, with longing and affection and that quick, beautifully calibrated code in which best friends speak."
"Review" by , "Elegantly written, this correspondence reads like miniature essays on subjects as diverse as loneliness, clementines, the joy (and pain) of cybersex, and how to behave while one's concrete hut is being exorcised. Above all, this book affirms the power of friendship as expressed in the nearly lost art of letter writing."
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