I recently returned from a writing retreat in the Great Smoky Mountains. One of the teachers at the event: Krista Bremer, associate publisher of The Sun Magazine, taught workshops about overcoming writer’s block, telling honest stories without hurting our loved ones, and how to examine the biases we all have in order to bolster our creative work. She should know: She wrote a book about struggling with her identity as a white woman married to a Libyan immigrant. The book, My Accidental Jihad: A Love Story began as a prize winning essay in The Sun and has led to her more recent work, A Tender Struggle: Story of a Marriage.

A blurb on Bremer’s website describes A Tender Struggle:

“In any marriage, we might discover that our mate is foreign to us, with vastly different memories and assumptions about home, family, and the world. Krista learns to embrace the differences, both intellectually and emotionally, and on the way finds the meaning of true intimacy.”

Both books explore similar themes: Check out her first one, which is available from our collection.

My Accidental Jihad: A Love Story
DB 79317
By Krista Bremer
Bremer relates her life growing up in a secular family in California, moving to North Carolina and meeting her eventual husband—a devout Libyan immigrant, and their decision to get married after Bremer discovers she is pregnant. Discusses challenges faced due to their differing cultures and religions. 2014.