{"title":"Penelope Khounta","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"love-began-in-laos-the-story-of-an-extraordinary-life-paperback","title":"Love Began in Laos: The Story of an Extraordinary Life - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEveryone has a story to tell. This tale is mine. I went from a sheltered childhood, growing up in middle-class America in the 1940s and 1950s, to traveling to Thailand and Laos, then falling in love with Laos and marrying a Lao man.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith no one to answer my questions or sources to guide me, I jumped in. No American woman had ever married a Lao from a broken family educated in France. I didn't know what to expect or what to do. Living in Laos, language barriers, and cultural and generational differences compounded my Lao social and family circumstances.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI lived in a jungle of ignorance, misunderstanding, and confusion to the end. I am surprised I survived.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMutual love, respect, and commitment were the invisible epoxy that cemented us together through the hardships we endured, leading to an extraordinary life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67927270818015,"sku":"9780692927298","price":18.31,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/U3zemHocMj9780692927298.webp?v=1791251514"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/penelope-khounta.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}