The Men in My Country

(University of Iowa Press, Sightline Books)

“. . . an astonishing and brutally honest portrait.” --Booklist

“One of those travel stories that reveals a heart as smitten with the place as the people.” --Kirkus Reviews

“Introspective, perceptively cross-cultural, poignant, and sometimes funny, this is ultimately a tale of disappointment in the search for love and good reading for those embarking on a similar search.” --Library Journal

“Abildskov appeals to the romantic in all of us. It becomes clear, by the end of the memoir, that foreignness is at least an actual state of being, and at best a metaphor for love.” --Jeanine Walker, Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts

“Marilyn Abildskov is a writer of sheer beauty and rare atmosphere. Each word feels hand-carved from the broken shards of her own life. The Men in My Country is a pathway into longing ‘for ordinary love, for ordinary joy.’ We are brought into soulful dialogue regarding the nature of wanting versus the nature of needing. Japan becomes a rich landscape of love and we accept this exquisite book as the gift of experience.” --Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge, Leap, and Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert