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Author Jean Rikhoff's life often reads as if it were fiction instead of an actual catalog of facts. She's had no interest in settling down into what would be described as a normal life. In this memoir, she recaps her life's out-of-the ordinary adventures against the backdrop of water, earth, fire, and air.

Earth, Air, Fire, and Water is Rickhoff's account of growing up in the 1950s. She tells about trying many roles, such as writer, wife, mother, professor, friend, with her real role in life always seeming to evade her. Her adventures include several years spent in Europe and numerous visits to Africa and India as well as remote locations such as Cambodia and the Easter Islands. Among her many experiences are a doomed love affair with a Spanish count, an extraordinary encounter with a Masai chieftain in Kenya, and an intense and humorous friendship with the famous American sculptor David Smith.

With anecdotes and photographs, this memoir shows that through all of Rikhoff's many exploits, she is searching for who she is--not an appendage to someone else, but as a woman who wants to carve out a life that is uniquely her own.

Best Memoir of 2011 from the Adirondack Center for Writing