Starting Over

By Laura Rittenhouse

Though she doesn’t understand exactly why, Maria isn’t content with her lot. The prospect of exchanging dependence on her family for dependence on a husband doesn’t sit well with this young woman growing up in late 19th Century Germany. Three generations later, on the other side of the Atlantic, Eva struggles with a similar restlessness; she’s generally happy but never quite satisfied.

This book follows Maria and her great-granddaughter Eva as they face surprisingly similar choices in dramatically different decades: how to keep a roof over your head, when to abandon independence and commit to a lover, where to draw a line in the sand. The choices they make take them to new countries, open them up to heartache and leave them wondering what is enough.