Paths I Have Walked

by Jo Ann Fuson Staples

Overview

Despite what Jo Ann Fuson Staples might tell you, she is no ordinary woman. She has led a remarkable life, full of adventure, love, hardship, and survival. Raised in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky, she comes from a long line of strong moun...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781039174436
Publisher:	FriesenPress
Publication date:	06/26/2023
Pages:	378
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.19(d)

About the Author

Jo Ann Fuson Staples came of age in the Appalachian Mountains of southeast Kentucky. She is a lifelong seeker of knowledge, and education that came from love of books and a well-traveled life. She spent 26 years working, learning and traveling overseas with her husband, George Staples, a Foreign Service Officer, on behalf of the U.S. State Department. She has a daughter, Catherine Desiree, a granddaughter, Grace Ann, and Matthew Randolph, a special son-in-law. Jo Ann is the oldest of five siblings, three of whom are still living. She is the first in her family to write a book.

Editorial Reviews

2023-10-02
In Staples’ memoir, a diplomat’s wife from the Kentucky mountains recalls her life.

Growing up in the small town of Pineville in the 1960s, the author knew her mother, Janie, was beautiful (her father, Ben, was killed in a car accident when the author was 7 years old). When Staples was a teenager, her mother met the charming Robert “Old Bob” Gambrel. The two quickly married, but the alcoholic, abusive Old Bob eventually murdered Janie. By then, the author and two of her girlfriends had escaped to Cincinnati, Ohio, and found personal and financial freedom. In 1979, she married diplomat George Staples, whom she met on a return flight to California, kicking off decades of living abroad in places like El Salvador (where the couple adopted their daughter, Catherine), Uruguay, and Zimbabwe, thanks to George’s position with the U.S. State Department. Staples has lived a fascinating life (“While I suppose I could have been described as a hillbilly because of where I grew up, labels stopped bothering me many years ago”) that spans decades, continents, and connections with everyone from Zimbabwean president and dictator Mugabe to actor Danny Glover. No detail is spared, and readers may enjoy the extensive descriptions of the author’s various homes (including the custom-built house in Pineville to which she and Catherine return through the years), as well as the many places the Staples family lived abroad. However, the author’s need to include every person, place, and object she’s encountered—which includes the repetition of multiple details—overwhelms any substantial exploration of her experiences.

A memoir long on detail but short on reflection.

Kirkus Reviews