Dancing Through Life: A Memoir

by Shirley Read-Jahn

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.

352 pages, Paperback

Published October 12, 2020

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Stephen Malins · Rating 5 out of 5]

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, 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 suprise, then, that her adult life was full of love, life and adventure. This included a stint as an Italian translator, living in caves as a beach girl 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.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating life

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.

[Luisa Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a memoir this is! Shirley's life was full of adventure from the start. Maybe another child would have suffered from being sent from pillar to post. A mother not wanting anything to do with the philandering father, but the father not wishing to entirely relinquish his influence on his daughters. Shirley appeared to adjust to everything thrown at her, in good spirit and with a sense of adenture. As she grew, her free spirit and desire to try new things and meet new people, took her to a London flat, and then to Spain, followed by travels with her sister across Europe -having adventures, meeting men and falling in and out of love. Her hippie days in Greece were utter freedom and had a long-lasting effect on her. Marriage did not affect her joie de vivre, despite her intial attempts at being an ideal wife, albeit lacking in culinary skills. Finally accepting that the role of corporate wife was not for her, she breaks loose again and travels to San Francisco where she studies and lives a free and independent existence. Her willingness to try everything, from transcendental meditation to the odd dabble with drugs, introduces her to many interesting, artistic people, including a new husband. While always busy, always working, she is also always studying and her range of abilities lands her jobs where she always manages to meet wonderful people.
The book ends with her wondering "what next" and the reader asks the same question, hoping the answer will be found in Volume 2.

[Mitos Suson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Dancing Through Life, Volume 1: A Memoir by Shirley Read-Jahn.

First of all, I love the cover. It depicts fun, joy and abandon; it’s totally appropriate for the book. Shirley has led a richly interesting life as she dance away her path through the highs and the lows. Hailing from England, the daughter of an English-German spy, raised in one of the finest private school in England, she shuttled back and forth between Germany and England. After college, she traveled extensively with her sister in Europe, embracing the hippy culture of the 60’s and living with other young nomads in the Matala Caves of Crete that also housed Joni Mitchell and other famous artists.

Shirley immigrated to the US, where she took up a variety of colorful careers, including swimwear model, interpreter, landscape gardener, paralegal and events organizer. She was the co-founder of the highly successful SF Jazz Festival! Shirley definitely led a fascinating and inspiring life that most of us can only dream about; along the way she’s met a cast of interesting characters and celebrities.

This book is a fabulous compelling read; Shirley weaves her story in such a ways as to entertain us with her wit, charm and her fresh positive outlook; she always leaves her audience hungry for more! Each facet of her being reflects the phases of the life of every woman, something we can share and internalize as our own. I can’t wait to read Volume 2 and discover more with every stone she overturns.

[Valerie Poore · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Barbara Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! This memoir describes the life of a unique woman from her childhood during the Second World War, throughout an exciting youth and adult life with many ups and downs. It’s full of colourful anecdotes, some quite incredible! I felt so identified with many events that I also lived in my own life . There are also many photographs that illustrate different occasions.
I can’t wait to read volume 2.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shirley's recollections of her varied and adventurous life tell of her experiences, people, and places in wonderful detail. I was greatly impressed by her vivid descriptions of her sojourn in Turkey—Istanbul in particular—in Greece and some of the Balkan countries. Shirley has certainly visited some exotic places and her tales transported me there in vivid reality. This is a fascinating read that I highly recommend. I can't wait to read volume two.

[Rebecca Stonehill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful memoir full of rich details, amusing and shocking stories and warmth which takes the reader from Shirley's birth in WW2, through boarding school, life living on an island on the Thames, London's swinging sixties and backpacking in Southern Europe. Very entertaining and a life lived to the full!

[Michael Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is ten lives in one.

I found myself very entertained with reading the life of this intriguing & fascinating woman. From her early life growing up in England to where she is today. I can’t wait to read volume 2.
Travelling through this book I could not get over how much energy Shirley has shown in her life. I found this a fascinating read.

[Tanya Clamback · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent read. Shirley has led a very full and colourful life and I cannot wait to read volume 2.