{"title":"Sara Mansfield Taber","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"black-water-and-tulips-book-sara-mansfield-taber-9781639882489","title":"Black Water and Tulips","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlack Water \u0026amp; Tulips tells the story of a brave and tortured woman, and a difficult mother-daughter relationship set in the perilous waters of Cold War espionage. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChilling moments of darkness and delicious moments of light, writes Sara Mansfield Taber, competed for ascendance in my relationship with my mother. Their flipping back and forth would haunt me and yank at my spirits from my birth onward. In my first three decades, the light moments counterbalanced and out-weighed the darker ones. Then, around my thirtieth year, there was a sharp, inexplicable tilt toward the dark and our relationship was rendered torturous. To identify its cause has been a primary preoccupation of my adult life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI read Sara Taber's Black Water and Tulips breathlessly, in one fell swoop, entranced by the beauty and difficulty of this mother\/daughter story. Artfully constructed, ringing with mythic undertones, fiercely honest, and so vividly written the pages felt alive in my hands, this is the most powerful and searching memoir I have read in years. It left me thinking for days about how we become the women we are, and all the ways-positive and negative-our mothers shape us. Profoundly compassionate and deeply moving, this shimmering tapestry of a book is a stunning achievement. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-Alison Townsend, author of Persephone in America\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs her father takes on CIA espionage assignments in different countries, a shy and sensitive girl struggles to find her own voice and separate from her energetic and erratic mother. Black Water and Tulips is a courageous and exquisitely crafted exploration of a mother-daughter bond that is at once loving and painful-one that gets no easier as the author reaches adulthood and builds a family of her own. The author's rich descriptions of her family's foreign service life in Japan, Taiwan, Holland, Borneo and suburban Washington, DC create a compelling backdrop for this intensely personal and delicately nuanced story of coming of age during the Cold War.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-Sandra Dibble, journalist, San Diego Union-Tribune\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49589398012177,"sku":"GOR013467159","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51042925510929,"sku":"NIN9781639882489","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52459138580753,"sku":"NLS9781639882489","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1639882480.jpg?v=1751152057"},{"product_id":"bread-of-three-rivers-book-sara-mansfield-taber-9780807072387","title":"Bread of Three Rivers","description":"\u003ci\u003eWhat is it about bread? Why am I, here in the middle of my life, so enamored of French loaves? Two images kept cropping up: two French people sitting in a caf  for a long afternoon of eating thick hunks of bread and drinking cups of coffee, and a Frenchman on a bicycle with a loaf slung across his handlebars. These visions seemed to depict lives soaked in leisure, where there was time for the good things. . . . Then this thought ambled forth: It's the dailiness of bread, like a reliable friend. . . . My plan starts to billow forth. My project, as I imagine it, will be a natural history, an ecology of bread. The story of a loaf.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOvercome by a passion for French bread, Sara Mansfield Taber travels to Brittany in search of a loaf, which like the lifestyle that must surely accompany it, is perfect in its simplicity. After many months of seeking, she tears off a hunk of pain trois rivi res, made by Gold Medal baker Monsieur Jean-Claude Choquet of Blain, Loire-Atlantique. It smelled like heaven and tasted a mile deep. It tasted honest. Here was her loaf. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eBread of Three Rivers\u003c\/i\u003e Taber takes us deep into the grainy crumb, uncovering the four basic ingredients-the salt, water, wheat, and yeast-that when combined by M. Choquet make for a spectacular loaf. We learn of the marshy fields of Gu rande where for hundreds of years salt, blessed with a unique mixture of microbes and minerals (that lend their flavor to the bread), has been harvested with the help of the sun. Then we're off to Moulin de Pont-James to meet the miller, who whispers to Taber that he actually uses strong American wheat from North Dakota to fortify the local harvest. Then to Nantes to engage the organic wheat farmer. In Nort-sur-Erdre we discover an ancient natural aquifer, composed of sand and limestone somewhere between 8 million and 50 million years ago. We end our journey in Lille at the Lesaffre Yeast Company, where the alchemy responsible for everything from American white loaves to Turkish flatbread is revealed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA deliciously satisfying mixture of history, science, travel narrative, and romance (could anything be more powerful than bread love?), \u003ci\u003eBread of Three Rivers\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us that nothing, no matter how basic, is as simple as it would seem.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49595753300241,"sku":"GOR012779789","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50362818265361,"sku":"CIN0807072389G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50366756749585,"sku":"CIN0807072389A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53188258857233,"sku":"CIN0807072389VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0807072389.jpg?v=1751010896"},{"product_id":"dusk-on-the-campo-book-sara-mansfield-taber-9780805014730","title":"Dusk on the Campo","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50362277495057,"sku":"CIN080501473XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/080501473X.jpg?v=1751329451"},{"product_id":"dusk-on-the-campo-book-sara-mansfield-taber-9780805020922","title":"Dusk on the Campo","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50368189661457,"sku":"CIN0805020926G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50884203315473,"sku":"CIN0805020926VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":52105805725969,"sku":"CIN0805020926A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805020926.jpg?v=1750785932"},{"product_id":"chance-particulars-book-sara-mansfield-taber-9781421425085","title":"Chance Particulars","description":"An essential guide for writers on how to record and use rich detail to enliven their work.  The goal of the writer is to live with the keenness of the foreigner. To experience, wide-eyed, the sensations aroused and the events offered up by peculiar surrounds and then to evoke them so brightly on the page that the reader, too, experiences the foreigner’s frisson. A time-honored way this is accomplished is through the keeping of a field notebook—through the faithful recording of the this-and-that of life; the atmospheres and incidents; the bells, the beer, the bread.  Based on what accomplished nonfiction writer Sara Mansfield Taber learned in her many years of field notebook keeping, Chance Particulars is a unique and handy primer for writers who want to use their experiences to tell a lively, satisfying story. Often, writers try to turn their notes into a memoir, essay, travel piece, or story, only to find that they haven’t recorded enough of the concrete, sensory details necessary to create evocative description. To help writers overcome this problem, Taber has composed a true “field notebook for field notebook keepers.” Enhanced by beautiful illustrations, this charming and comprehensive guide is a practical manual for anyone who wishes to learn or hone the crafts of writing, ethnography, or journalism.  Writers of all levels, genres, and ages, as well as teachers of writing, will appreciate this useful tool for learning how to record the details that build vibrant prose. With this book in hand, you will be able to recreate times and places, conjure up intricate character portraits, and paint pictures of particular landscapes, cultures, and locales.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50374436585745,"sku":"CIN1421425084G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51517249421585,"sku":"GOR009829879","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1421425084.jpg?v=1751444107"},{"product_id":"born-under-an-assumed-name-book-sara-mansfield-taber-9781597976985","title":"Born Under an Assumed Name","description":"From literary journalist Sara Mansfield Taber comes a deep and wondrous memoir of her exotic childhood as the daughter of a covert CIA operative. Born under an Assumed Name portrays the thrilling and confusing life of a girl growing up abroad in a world of secrecy and diplomacyand the heavy toll it takes on her and her father.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51038680776977,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51038685004049,"sku":"NIN9781597976985","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51716457103633,"sku":"CIN1597976989G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52202232840465,"sku":"GOR005866461","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53132999098641,"sku":"CIN1597976989VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1597976989.jpg?v=1761386136"},{"product_id":"to-write-the-past-book-sara-mansfield-taber-9781716590405","title":"To Write The Past","description":"To Write the Past is a guide for those with a yen to record their lives. Like a sturdy companion, the book is designed to hearten and embolden those who pick it up to set their memories and musings on the page. Tucked within are nine essays that address the key and burning questions that ever-perplex the memoirist. Sara Mansfield Taber is the author of two memoirs sprung from her upbringing as the daughter of a Cold War spy: Born Under an Assumed Name and Black Water and Tulips. She has also published Chance Particulars: A Writer's Field Notebook, two books of literary journalism, Dusk on the Campo and Bread of Three Rivers, and numerous personal essay, travel, and opinion pieces. A psychologist and social worker, she has taught memoir-writing in universities, literary centers, and independent workshops for the last three decades. Known for both her in-depth knowledge of the writer's craft and the generous support she gives to writers, she has midwifed hundreds of memoirs into being.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51047212974353,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51047218446609,"sku":"NIN9781716590405","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/171659040X.jpg?v=1751410027"},{"product_id":"bread-of-three-rivers-book-sara-mansfield-taber-9780807072394","title":"Bread of Three Rivers","description":"\u003ci\u003eWhat is it about bread? Why am I, here in the middle of my life, so enamored of French loaves? Two images kept cropping up: two French people sitting in a caf  for a long afternoon of eating thick hunks of bread and drinking cups of coffee, and a Frenchman on a bicycle with a loaf slung across his handlebars. These visions seemed to depict lives soaked in leisure, where there was time for the good things. . . . Then this thought ambled forth: It's the dailiness of bread, like a reliable friend. . . . My plan starts to billow forth. My project, as I imagine it, will be a natural history, an ecology of bread. The story of a loaf.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOvercome by a passion for French bread, Sara Mansfield Taber travels to Brittany in search of a loaf, which like the lifestyle that must surely accompany it, is perfect in its simplicity. After many months of seeking, she tears off a hunk of pain trois rivi res, made by Gold Medal baker Monsieur Jean-Claude Choquet of Blain, Loire-Atlantique. It smelled like heaven and tasted a mile deep. It tasted honest. Here was her loaf. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eBread of Three Rivers\u003c\/i\u003e Taber takes us deep into the grainy crumb, uncovering the four basic ingredients-the salt, water, wheat, and yeast-that when combined by M. Choquet make for a spectacular loaf. We learn of the marshy fields of Gu rande where for hundreds of years salt, blessed with a unique mixture of microbes and minerals (that lend their flavor to the bread), has been harvested with the help of the sun. Then we're off to Moulin de Pont-James to meet the miller, who whispers to Taber that he actually uses strong American wheat from North Dakota to fortify the local harvest. Then to Nantes to engage the organic wheat farmer. In Nort-sur-Erdre we discover an ancient natural aquifer, composed of sand and limestone somewhere between 8 million and 50 million years ago. We end our journey in Lille at the Lesaffre Yeast Company, where the alchemy responsible for everything from American white loaves to Turkish flatbread is revealed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA deliciously satisfying mixture of history, science, travel narrative, and romance (could anything be more powerful than bread love?), \u003ci\u003eBread of Three Rivers\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us that nothing, no matter how basic, is as simple as it would seem.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52816680485137,"sku":"CIN0807072397G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53522630213905,"sku":"NLS9780807072394","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780807072394.jpg?v=1764270050"},{"product_id":"writing-for-resilience-book-sara-mansfield-taber-9781387647354","title":"Writing for Resilience","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53336159224081,"sku":"NIN9781387647354","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781387647354.jpg?v=1774301789"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-sara-mansfield-taber.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}