Croatia, here we come: Jennifer Wilson signs Running Away to Home tonight in Boulder

You've heard of running away from home. But author Jennifer Wilson, after losing her savings to the stock-market crash, gathered up her family in Des Moines and ran away to home, or at least that's the way she characterizes it in her memoir/travelogue Running Away to Home...

By Susan Froyd

May 14, 2012

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You've heard of running away from home. But author Jennifer Wilson, after losing her savings to the stock-market crash, gathered up her family in Des Moines and ran away to home, or at least that's the way she characterizes it in her memoir/travelogue Running Away to Home. There's more to the story, of course, behind the ironic title: Wilson -- along with her husband, Jim, an architect, and their two children -- sought a simpler life in Mrkopalj, the Croatian mountain village of her ancestors. Needless to say, it was like waking up not only in a different place, but in another century, as well: In Mrkopalj, folks milked cows in their yards the old-fashioned way, ate an earthier diet and drank homemade hooch, sometimes a bit too much.

Wilson will appear tonight at the Boulder Book Store to discuss the denouement of their journey, which reunited her with long-lost relatives and brought about a different understanding of what it means to be family. Catch the discussion and book-signing at 7:30 p.m.; admission is a $5 voucher good toward your purchase of the book. For more information, visit the Boulder Book Store online or call 303-447-2074.

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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Croatia, here we come: Jennifer Wilson signs Running Away to Home tonight in Boulder

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