Loving at a Distance

A poignant memoir about cultural differences told by an international rights veteran in the book publishing industry. Traveling from the Silicon Valley through the college towns of Berkeley and Stanford, Loving at a Distance is a touching memoir that describes a European bibliophile’s experiences in the high-tech sectors of California. Living on two different continents is always a big challenge for a family. In a pandemic, however, that challenge becomes almost insurmountable. An aging German grandmother, Petra Hardt finds that her regular journeys across the Atlantic to visit her children and grandchildren in California aren’t really helping her understand the Californian way of life and work. With self-irony and laconism, she details the connections and confusions between generations, exploring how different lifestyles and attitudes have affected her relationships.