Up the Downside

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In the turbulent backdrop of 1967, with French revolutionaries aimed at separating her Quebec from Canada, Maureen Wallner, only seventeen, is grappling with a world in upheaval. As the not-so-good girl anymore from an embattled family in a live-for-today Beatles-infused era, she meets a determined American from New York with dreams to be a doctor without the grades to enter med school.

Fast forward to 1969, disillusioned, wary of love and marriage, Maureen marries Harry and follows him to Belgium-to her a dreary Neverland. Struggling to adapt to being the foreigner in what is shrouded in perpetual gray and inhabited by stoic, trench-coated beings, she confronts new harsh realities of life. With no job prospects, pressured with passing once-a-year exams in Flemish, and Vietnam claiming more and more Americans, she finds herself isolated, waiting for Harry's dream to materialize while grappling with her own identity.

This compelling memoir delves into love, sacrifice, and self-discovery set against a world divided by war and cultural clashes. As Maureen navigates the challenges of living outside her native country, she must reconcile practicality with the emotional turmoil of being an outsider, ultimately discovering what is possible. Like finding her own way up the downside to who she truly is.