Americashire (eBook)

Jennifer Richardson and her husband bought a cottage in the Cotswolds in the hopes of finding respite from their stressful London existence—but instead, their new rural life forced Richardson to confront her husband’s depression, her own ambivalence toward motherhood, and a frightening medical diagnosis that threatened her whole world.

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When an American woman and her British husband decide to buy a two-hundred-year-old cottage in the heart of the Cotswolds, they're hoping for an escape from their London lives. Instead, their decision about whether or not to have a child plays out against a backdrop of village fetes, rural rambles, and a cast of eccentrics clad in corduroy and tweed. Americashire: A Field Guide to a Marriage begins with the simultaneous purchase of a Cotswold cottage and Richardson's ill-advised decision to tell her grandchild-hungry parents that she is going to try to have a baby. As she transitions from urban to rural life, she is forced to confront both her ambivalence about the idea of motherhood and the reality of living with a spouse who suffers from depression. Then, just when she is finally settling into English country life, she is struck by an attack of non-alcohol-related slurring that turns out to be a symptom of multiple sclerosis. Her indecision about moving forward with motherhood is brought to a head when her neurologist tells her that pregnancy may actually decrease her risk of developing full-blown MS. Part memoir, part travelogue-and including field guides to narrative-related Cotswold walks--Americashire is a candid, compelling tale of marriage, illness, and difficult life decisions.