Brief book review: “Together, Alone”


Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place by Susan Wittig Albert

If you are a mystery reader, you already are familiar with the name Susan Wittig Albert.  She is the author of the popular China Bayles series, as well as many other books.

In this volume she lets us in on some of her personal life, starting with her decision in 1985 to give up her career as a college administrator and homestead a small patch of land in the Texas Hill Country with her new husband. There for over twenty years she has  made a living writing novels while learning to connect with the natural environment around her.

To a large extent this is a  “back to the land” chronicle.   But the author is also concerned with making a marriage work and dealing with solitude as well as working together.  The essays are prefaced  with excerpts from her personal journals.