Leaving Before the Rains Come by Alexandra Fuller

Leaving Before the Rains Come by Alexandra Fuller

The New York Times Bestseller from the author of Travel Light, Move Fast

One of the gutsiest memoirs I've ever read. And the writing--oh my god the writing.--Entertainment Weekly

A child of the Rhodesian wars and daughter of two deeply complicated parents, Alexandra Fuller is no stranger to pain. But the disintegration of Fuller's own marriage leaves her shattered. Looking to pick up the pieces of her life, she finally confronts the tough questions about her past, about the American man she married, and about the family she left behind in Africa. A breathtaking achievement, Leaving Before the Rains Come is a memoir of such grace and intelligence, filled with such wit and courage, that it could only have been written by Alexandra Fuller.

Leaving Before the Rains Come begins with the dreadful first years of the American financial crisis when Fuller's delicate balance--between American pragmatism and African fatalism, the linchpin of her unorthodox marriage--irrevocably fails. Recalling her unusual courtship in Zambia--elephant attacks on the first date, sick with malaria on the wedding day--Fuller struggles to understand her younger self as she overcomes her current misfortunes. Fuller soon realizes what is missing from her life is something that was always there: the brash and uncompromising ways of her father, the man who warned his daughter that the problem with most people is that they want to be alive for as long as possible without having any idea whatsoever how to live. Fuller's father--Tim Fuller of No Fixed Abode as he first introduced himself to his future wife--was a man who regretted nothing and wanted less, even after fighting harder and losing more than most men could bear.

Leaving Before the Rains Come showcases Fuller at the peak of her abilities, threading panoramic vistas with her deepest revelations as a fully grown woman and mother. Fuller reveals how, after spending a lifetime fearfully waiting for someone to show up and save her, she discovered that, in the end, we all simply have to save ourselves.

An unforgettable book, Leaving Before the Rains Come is a story of sorrow grounded in the tragic grandeur and rueful joy only to be found in Fuller's Africa.

Alexandra Fuller was born in 1969 in the United Kingdom. She and her family moved to a farm in southern Africa in 1972. She spent her early twenties in Africa. She relocated to Wyoming in 1994. Travel Light, Move Quickly, Cocktail Hour Beneath the Tree of Forgetfulness, and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight are among Fuller's memoirs.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781594205866
ISBN 10	1594205868
Title	Leaving Before the Rains Come
Author	Alexandra Fuller
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2015-01-22
Number of pages	272
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.