ONE REASON TO LIVE

Rose writes that when she and her husband were living in California, she had been sexually assaulted three times in 18 months—each time by a different person she knew. She was diagnosed with “complex PTSD and accumulating traumas”; soon afterward, Ethan, a contractor, was injured in a construction accident. His recuperation took months and was accompanied by a change in personality. Rose writes that she also discovered that he’d been lying to her about things large and small. As the memoir opens in 2015, they’d been living in Portland, Oregon, for a year. Ethan had returned to general contracting, and Rose had a technical writing and tech-support job. When Ethan was arrested for driving while intoxicated, it was a major crisis in a 15-year marriage that was already in turmoil. Shortly afterward, he went to California to check on their Airbnb rental property; he said he’d be back in two weeks, she writes, but he never returned. After agonizing months of waiting, Rose went on a trip to Europe, paying for her lodgings with weeks- and monthslong petsitting assignments. In this remembrance, she effectively brings readers along on her travels, producing a memoir that’s part travelogue and part emotional journey. Along the way, she slowly reveals elements of her past; as a result, time frames jump back and forth, sometimes confusingly. Long passages are devoted to self-recrimination and accounts of PTSD–related depression, especially after close calls with a few predatory European men. A budding online romance with a co-worker also causes an unanticipated traumatic setback. However, the book does feature joyful travelogue-style descriptions and charming vignettes about the dogs, cats, parrots, and even chickens she cared for. One intriguing section, for example, recalls her three-day participation as a volunteer at an archaeological dig in England: “I jumped at the chance! What an adventure that would be! Just like my beloved Indiana Jones. I couldn’t pass this up.”