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When All Roads Lead to Heartbreak…Which Destination Is Best?

In 1961, a small-town WASP girl strives to protect her unborn baby and her honor in a conflict between her abusive sea captain father and her ambitious young lover who is determined to become a writer. When Ann becomes pregnant, nothing is clearer than that she cannot turn to her family. She hides with Joseph in his university town and then in Puerto Rico; they pretend to be married. Tasting the sweetness of young life together, they struggle with visions of a future as parents that would accommodate Joseph’s aspiration to succeed. The task is too great; questions of character, capacity for love and tolerance, and readiness for parenthood remain unanswered. Unable to reconcile family attitudes and their own differences, and to take what they know to be the honorable course, they see changes come about in themselves caused by guilt and resentment. Joseph must make his way alone. Ann releases their baby for adoption. Haunted by the echoes of their decision, Joseph and Ann part, each heading toward an unexpected future. The past is always with us—will Ann find redemption, or will she be forever trapped in regret for what might have been? This honest, poignant memoir will take you on a vivid, achingly real journey to the painful tipping-point of a world before the advent of feminism and social change.