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  • Dancing Through Life, Volume 1: A Memoir

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Shirley Read-Jahn
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Dancing Through Life, Volume 1: A Memoir Kindle Edition

by Shirley Read-Jahn (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.9 out of 5 stars (19)

Straddling the century, this colourful memoir tells of a childhood with an English rose and an English-German spy as parents, the confusions of a Dickensian schooling, coming of age in London’s legendary sixties, before becoming a cave-dwelling hippy on the Greek island of Crete. We follow Shirley to exotic places where she lived and loved. Her new knowledge about men, her marriages, triumphs, and misfortunes, are laid bare.

This is one woman’s story of her time, but all women will see reflections of themselves.

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  1. Book 1 of 2
    Dancing Through Life
  2. Print length
    243 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    October 11, 2020
  6. File size
    7.0 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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From the Publisher

London life in the 1960s, cave-dwelling hippie in Crete, loves, triumphs, misfortunes, exotic life
London life in the 1960s, cave-dwelling hippie in Crete, loves, triumphs, misfortunes, exotic life
London life in the 1960s, cave-dwelling hippie in Crete, loves, triumphs, misfortunes, exotic life

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

LARGE PRINT VERSION.

From the Back Cover

'Loaded with heavy backpacks, my sister, Pam, and I hit the road for four months. After a number of weeks traveling through Europe we arrived off the ferry from Athens into the port of Heraklion, Crete. In the youth hostel we asked the manager what we should see and where we should go. Waggling his finger, he solemnly intoned, "Whatever you do, do NOT go to Matala. It's filled with sex and drugs and filthy hippies." So we got on the next bus to Matala.'

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08L4668KW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ SR-J Publications
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 11, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7.0 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 243 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 1 of 2 ‏ : ‎ Dancing Through Life
  • Best Sellers Rank: #2,983,286 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 out of 5 stars (19)

About the author

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Shirley Read-Jahn

Shirley Read-Jahn

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Shirley Read-Jahn was born during World War II and educated in England before becoming a hippy and living in an ancient Roman burial tomb in Matala, Crete. She went on to take up many different colourful careers, including swimwear model, interpreter, landscape gardener, paralegal and events organiser. She also co-founded the highly-successful San Francisco Jazz Festival as well as running her own landscape business in the United States.

Shirley has belly-danced since her thirties, still plays table-tennis, and now lives in Australia. In retirement, she has finally found time to devote to her passion for writing and the books swirling around in her head.

Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
19 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars I was glued to this - a man's perspective.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2023
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    "A man's perspective: I am going to start by saying a most profound thing: if I ever come back as a woman then it will be as one Shirley Read-Jahn who has had the most fulfilling, whirlwind, even louche life. I was glued to this well-written and engaging memoir.

    Her father was half-German with an interesting past, and her childhood included a long cruise on a merchant ship before the family settled on an island on the Thames in London (not far from my own childhood home). Her adventures at boarding school appeared to be straight out of Malory Towers - and it's no surprise, then, that her adult life was full of love, life and adventure. This included a stint as a Spanish translator, living in caves in Greece - Helen Mirren - pack your bags now, please - and in San Francisco.

    I am looking forward to Book Two - where I'd put money on Shirley ending up as a Bond Girl.
    Highly recommended."
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  • fabulouschrissie
    5.0 out of 5 stars What a fascinating life
    Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2021
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Shirley has lived a fascinating life. With a German father and English mother, it made for some complications, especially when they divorced. A childhood lived in England and Germany led to a wandering adulthood. From living in Spain, in caves in Greece, to living in several states in America, she has mixed with the rich and famous. A life of privilege in many respects, and a love of and gift for learning languages helped her in her travels. I'm looking forward to learning more.about Shirley's life in Volume 2.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Ulrica Hume
    5.0 out of 5 stars “I always felt special, optimistically certain that a bright star shone over me bringing me luck.”
    Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    The life stories in this memoir are truly a dance: now joyful and leaping, now phoenix-like as the author rises from ashes and reinvents herself. She tours exotic lands, she falls in (and out of) love. Through clear prose that is rich with specificity, a history emerges of women’s roles, in which we can place ourselves. It is a compelling read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • ROSiE MITCHELL
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Life Well Lived
    Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2024
    Format: Kindle
    Dancing Through Life Volume 1 by Shirley Read-Jahn. I had the opportunity to meet up with this lovely lady in person earlier this month in the Illawarra region. She was one of the most interesting people I have met on my travels, and now having read this book, I definitely feel like I know her well.
    The book is well written and tells the story of her life in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Shirley's life has been full of colourful characters and exotic places and she is indeed a woman ahead of her time.
    I would happily recommend this book as a great read and to take you back in time to a vibrant age of freedom, fashion and fun.
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  • Vmp
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
    Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2024
    I was lucky enough to receive this book as a prize in a draw and was fascinated from the first to the last page. Shirley Read-Jahn had, in many ways, a lovely childhood, living much of the time on an island in the Thames where she and her sister had the river as their playground. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her growing years and her experiences in London during the swinging sixties, followed by her travels in Europe with her sister during the hippy era. The book takes us through to marriage and a life in the US, which altered her lifestyle completely. As I have read the second of her life memoirs, I was very pleased to have filled in the period beforehand, especially as it explains for me how she developed into the successful business woman she became later on. An altogether interesting and compelling read.
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  • Simon Michael Prior
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable read.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2024
    Format: Kindle
    Excellent memoir about a lady who goes to live a very alternative life in Crete.
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars A WORK AND A LIFE OF JOY
    Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2020
    Format: Kindle
    Shirley Read-Jahn's memoir, Dancing Through Life, is as joyous as its title promises. Not that there are no trials and tribulations in the accounts of the seventy-plus years she describes. No, indeed. But the point of all of them for her is to keep dancing and laughing and hoping and loving it all. She has such a fascinating background, that it seems like a made-for-a -memoir script, though that was certainly not her purpose. Her purpose was not writing it, but living it. She started life in England, 1944, with her (somewhat) older sister, making her a near-contemporary of mine. Both of us war time babies, except I spent the war safe and sound in the USA, and my father was not a philandering British spy. That's just for starters. She grew up in both countries and spoke both languages (her propensities for languages is something else I don't share with her.) She also had a wanderlust I could but imagine. For that, she was born into exactly the right time and circumstance. Around the world she went, she and her vagabond sister, fully immersed in the "hippie-ness" of the sixties and seventies. Her mother and father divorced, leaving their girls a bit rootless and hankering for adventure, a hankering they've spent a lifetime indulging. The countries and continents they've explored are enough to make for a full and instructive read. And always, always, fun. She's an Australian right now, pursuing writing and belly-dancing. Not many can live up to that sentence, but it only touches the surface of this exuberant life. I feel I know her through these pages, and I will live always jealous of her derring-do and the adventurous years she's lived and will continue to create as her future unfolds. This is a volume 1. I'll get to vol 2 soon, but couldn't wait to write this.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Dina P
    5.0 out of 5 stars She Certainly Does Dance
    Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2021
    Format: Kindle
    Having had the privilege of working with Shirley during her San Francisco years, both of us having our first child within 2 years of each other, I couldn’t wait to read her memoirs. And I certainly am not disappointed! The way she weaves history into the stories of her adventures is fascinating. I was mesmerized getting a glimpse of her life beyond that of the legal secretary I know and love. She has such a way with words that I can actually hear her voice as I read her book. What a life! I can’t wait to finish reading Volume 2!
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