Forbidden Bread
Erica Johnson Debeljak, signed by author
$17.00

‘Forbidden Bread’ is an unusual love story that covers great territory, both geographically and emotionally. The author leaves behind a successful career as an American financial analyst to pursue Ales Debeljak, a womanizing Slovenian poet who catches her attention at a cocktail party. The story begins in New York City, but quickly migrates, along with the author, to Slovenia. As she struggles to forge an identity in her new home, Slovenia itself undergoes the transformation from a communist to a capitalist society. A complicated language, politically incorrect ethnic jokes, and old-fashioned sexism are just a few of the challenges Debeljak faces on her journey. Happily, she marries her poet and comes to love her new husband’s family as well as the fast-disappearing rural traditions of this beautiful country. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Slovenian Ten Day War and the much longer Yugoslav wars of succession, ‘Forbidden Bread’ shows a worldly and courageous woman coming to grips with her new life and family situation in a rapidly changing European landscape. A memoir about the author’s decision to turn her life upside down and move to a new country. It features an unlikely love story between the author, an American financial analyst living in New York City, and, Ales, the bohemian womanizing Slovenian poet who catches her heart without really meaning to.