Book Club

Michelle spent 18 years as a trailing spouse in three countries before moving back to India — where her adjustment adventures have continued after all, as chronicled in her new book, “Becoming Goan: A Contemporary Coming Home Story,” one of our summer reading recommendations. This is Part 3 of her story.

Once Kunal had graduated high school from the International School Bangkok (ISB) in early June 2008, we headed to London to spend the summer together as a family. In August, Bharat dropped Kunal off at USC (the University of Southern California) in Los Angeles; I stayed with Divya as she began eighth grade at the American School in London (ASL). 

We found a home in Swiss Cottage, just one tube stop away from ASL at St John’s Wood. I signed up for a “London in Literature” class through ASL’s parent outreach program and found a community of friends from around the world; I also joined a group of like-minded women who walked and chatted every morning through Primrose Hill and Regents Park.

Our golden retriever Neo loved these walks in the park, too — once he was able to join us in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, due to the U.K.’s stringent quarantine laws for dogs moving from Thailand, he first had to spend six months in strict quarantine. The least traumatic option we could find was a farm in northwest France, in Dinard in Brittany, near the Port of Saint Malo. We visited him there over the summer, and he qualified for his European Union (E.U.) passport to cross the channel and join us in time for our first Christmas together as a family in London.