Summertime Publishing
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Our Authors
    • Publish with Us
    • Contact Us
    • Our Privacy Policy
  • Services and Fees
  • Our Bookshelf
    • Summertime Direct
    • Anthology
    • Careers and Business
    • Children's Books
    • Country Guides
    • Expat Life
    • The FIGT Collection
    • Health and Wellbeing
    • Third Culture Kids
    • Writing
    • Springtime Shop
  • For Writers
    • Jo Parfitt, Mentor
    • author2author
    • Writing Retreats >
      • Me-Treats
      • Write Life Stories
    • e-Learning >
      • Write Your Life Stories
      • Definite Articles
      • Release the Book Within
    • Free Writers' Tools
    • From Pipedream to Proposal
  • Blog

Summertime
​News

Journalist Shelley Antscherl muses about mother-in-laws

11/11/2011

Comments

 
Picture
In this guest post for the Expat Bookshop, Shelley Antscherl shares her own experience of cross-cultural family life and how she could identify with Wendy Williams’ recently released Globalisation of Love.
​

Love and other creatures

As the retired veteran of a Six Year War with my Jewish Mother-in-Law I’m fascinated by the trouble and strife that can dog the path of true love when marrying into another class, faith or culture, even when couples share the same nationality.

For my own part, I’d tried and failed to get along with the trickiest of creatures in the early days of my marriage but it was only years later that I finally understood that the catalyst for our discord wasn’t just personal, it was also cultural.

Although I was not Jewish when we met, my husband and I are both British with similar backgrounds, and as non-observant Liberal Jews my husband’s family initially welcomed and accepted me into the fold, and to begin with everything looked peachy.

But one cultural trait was observed religiously at all times, and that was my Mother-in-Law.
At first I relished being part of a close family unit and even enjoyed playing the role of dutiful daughter-in-law, especially as my Mother-in-Law could be fun and entertaining company.

But this self-appointed matriarch was feared and revered by the rest of her family and determined to be involved in every aspect of her adult children’s lives, invited or uninvited.

Before long her compulsion to control everyone around her, including my husband, began to jeopardize our wedded bliss and ultimately our future together.

Our views on my position in the family pecking order were just irreconcilable, and eventually this stark realization combined with my husband’s gradual awakening to her more vindictive tactics led to years of bitter estrangement.

Of course I wasn’t blameless. As a young woman joining a very close family I could have capitulated occasionally to keep the peace, but instead chose to stand my ground whenever I thought I was being undermined, which felt like all the time.

So when I stumbled across a new book called The Globalisation of Love about mixed marriages in the modern age, it really struck a chord.

Canadian author Wendy Williams has written a highly evocative, yet humorous guide to relationships that cross all frontiers. And given the fact she’s married to an Austrian and now living in Vienna, she’s certainly no stranger to the concept of mixed marriage herself.

With increasing numbers of people moving around the globe to live and work, love now overcomes barriers like never before and blended unions in all their forms are now everywhere we look.

With amusing anecdotes and witty repartee throughout, Williams has succeeded in writing something that is both enlightening and amusing.

So instead of bemoaning your bad luck for acquiring some ghastly old relatives along with your perfect partner, sit back and count your blessings. I know I did.

Because although I don’t miss my Mother-in-Law, I owe her two big debts of gratitude: firstly for producing my wonderful husband, and secondly for unwittingly giving us the push we needed to immigrate to British Columbia…
​
Shelley Antscherl
Shelley Antscherl – Journalist, expat and mother of four living in British Columbia.

Comments
    Picture
    All the latest news, views, and writing tips from Jo Parfitt and the team at Summertime Publishing


    Your email will only ever be used to send you our monthly newsletter and you can unsubscribe at any time. See our privacy policy statement for more information.

    Archives

    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    July 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    September 2008
    May 2008


Summertime Publishing

by your side from inspiration to publication


Website by author2author | © Summertime Publishing 2019 All Rights Reserved
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Our Authors
    • Publish with Us
    • Contact Us
    • Our Privacy Policy
  • Services and Fees
  • Our Bookshelf
    • Summertime Direct
    • Anthology
    • Careers and Business
    • Children's Books
    • Country Guides
    • Expat Life
    • The FIGT Collection
    • Health and Wellbeing
    • Third Culture Kids
    • Writing
    • Springtime Shop
  • For Writers
    • Jo Parfitt, Mentor
    • author2author
    • Writing Retreats >
      • Me-Treats
      • Write Life Stories
    • e-Learning >
      • Write Your Life Stories
      • Definite Articles
      • Release the Book Within
    • Free Writers' Tools
    • From Pipedream to Proposal
  • Blog