A Hard Place to Leave
Marcia DeSanctis
“Intrepid and empathetic, gifted with the dispassionate gaze of a born observer…a harmonious collage of worldview and character, a wunderkammer of experiences in a life fully lived.” —Melissa Febos, The New York Times
“DeSanctis encounters spies and love interests, but it’s her lushly polished writing that makes this book a joy to read.” —The Washington Post
Restless to leave, eager to return: this memoir in essays captures the unrelenting pull between the past and the present, between traveling the world and staying home.
Starting in a dreary Moscow hotel room in 1983, weaving back and forth to rural New England, and ending on a West Texas trail in 2020, Marcia DeSanctis tells stories that span the globe and half a lifetime. With intimacy and depth, over quicksand in France, insomnia in Cambodia, up a volcano in Rwanda, spinning through the eye of a snowstorm in Bismarck, and atop a dumpster in her own backyard, this New York Times bestselling author, award-winning essayist and journalist for Vogue and Travel + Leisure immerses us in places waiting to be experienced and some that may be more than we’re up for. She encounters spies, angels, leopards, shoes, the odd rattlesnake, a random head of state, and many times over, the ghosts of her past. Each subsequent voyage leads to revelations about her search for solitude, a capacity for adventure, and always, a longing for home.
Duration - 9h 53m.
Author - Marcia DeSanctis.
Narrator - Marcia DeSanctis.
Published Date - Sunday, 22 January 2023.
Copyright - © 2022 Marcia DeSanctis ©.
Location:
United States
Description:
“Intrepid and empathetic, gifted with the dispassionate gaze of a born observer…a harmonious collage of worldview and character, a wunderkammer of experiences in a life fully lived.” —Melissa Febos, The New York Times “DeSanctis encounters spies and love interests, but it’s her lushly polished writing that makes this book a joy to read.” —The Washington Post Restless to leave, eager to return: this memoir in essays captures the unrelenting pull between the past and the present, between traveling the world and staying home. Starting in a dreary Moscow hotel room in 1983, weaving back and forth to rural New England, and ending on a West Texas trail in 2020, Marcia DeSanctis tells stories that span the globe and half a lifetime. With intimacy and depth, over quicksand in France, insomnia in Cambodia, up a volcano in Rwanda, spinning through the eye of a snowstorm in Bismarck, and atop a dumpster in her own backyard, this New York Times bestselling author, award-winning essayist and journalist for Vogue and Travel + Leisure immerses us in places waiting to be experienced and some that may be more than we’re up for. She encounters spies, angels, leopards, shoes, the odd rattlesnake, a random head of state, and many times over, the ghosts of her past. Each subsequent voyage leads to revelations about her search for solitude, a capacity for adventure, and always, a longing for home. Duration - 9h 53m. Author - Marcia DeSanctis. Narrator - Marcia DeSanctis. Published Date - Sunday, 22 January 2023. Copyright - © 2022 Marcia DeSanctis ©.
Language:
English
Opening Credits
Duration:00:00:15
Dedication
Duration:00:00:06
Introduction
Duration:00:15:34
Chapter 1: Masha
Duration:00:18:33
Chapter 2: The Precipice
Duration:00:15:02
Chapter 3: Cold War Game Theory
Duration:00:39:17
Chapter 4: To The Man at the Urinal in Prague
Duration:00:06:04
Chapter 5: Un Matin de Septembre
Duration:00:06:37
Chapter 6: Halloween
Duration:00:04:22
Chapter 7: The Substitute
Duration:00:21:56
Chapter 8: Love’s Labour’s Won
Duration:00:15:13
Chapter 9: The Language of Sculpture, and of Words
Duration:00:22:18
Chapter 10: Waiting for the Sun
Duration:00:23:41
Chapter 11: Cape Town
Duration:00:03:56
Chapter 12: Strangers on a Train
Duration:00:09:24
Chapter 13: One Day, Three Dead Men
Duration:00:18:44
Chapter 14: Green Pastures
Duration:00:25:22
Chapter 15: Twenty Years and Counting
Duration:00:22:22
Chapter 16: Traveling Solo in the World’s Most Romantic Country
Duration:00:14:43
Chapter 17: Milk, Bread, Butter, Chocolate
Duration:00:10:03
Chapter 18: The After Season
Duration:00:05:34
Chapter 19: Headlights
Duration:00:23:42
Chapter 20: Connie Britton’s Hair
Duration:00:25:22
Chapter 21: The Offer that Refused Me
Duration:00:21:15
Chapter 22: The Stories They Tell
Duration:00:11:06
Chapter 23: Dog Walk
Duration:00:03:25
Chapter 24: Falling
Duration:00:11:12
Chapter 25: Seven Drafts of Coffee
Duration:00:18:38
Chapter 26: Petra or Bust
Duration:00:17:24
Chapter 27: The Stick
Duration:00:05:57
Chapter 28: Into the Cold
Duration:00:28:02
Chapter 29: Winter (With Apologies to Colette)
Duration:00:07:02
Chapter 30: Time or the Sahara Wind
Duration:00:19:49
Chapter 31: Take Me With You
Duration:00:06:51
Chapter 32: Signs of Life and Death in Africa
Duration:00:10:32
Chapter 33: He’s Leaving Home
Duration:00:07:45
Chapter 34: Willa Cather’s Lavandou
Duration:00:13:17
Chapter 35: Fear and Solace in the Big Bend
Duration:00:25:18
Chapter 36: Brass City
Duration:00:18:53
Chapter 37: The Voyage
Duration:00:18:55
Ending Credits
Duration:00:00:13