How Now, Brown Frau

A poignant, revealing and hilarious memoir about what happened when a former Playschool presenter (and brothel receptionist) woke up one morning in Munich four months pregnant, without a word of German under her belt, and surrounded by Bavarians! It's a tale about friendship, marriage and motherhood and how even a feminist can own a Dirndl.

In her first book, There's A Bear In There, Merridy Eastman led us into the forbidden world of a Sydney brothel where she once worked as a nervous receptionist. In Ridiculous Expectations she packed us into her suitcase and took us on her British book tour where, instead of finding Mr Darcy as promised, she was swept off her feet by a tall German called Tom. Who knew?

In How Now Brown Frau Merridy plunges headlong into a new life in Bavaria where she takes up residence four months pregnant and without a word of German under her belt. Here we meet her conventional Bavarian inlaws, climb excruciating language barriers (not to mention a few alps) and grapple with a culture that seems at times to be on a whole other planet. A world of challenge opens up before us - the food, the weather, the customs, the traditional religious greetings, the silence on public transport, and of course the Freikorperkultur, or nudism, acceptable even in Munich's central public gardens. But with help from some wonderful expat friends, Merridy grows to love the beautifully restored ancient city, and to realise that travel doesn't just broaden the mind, it can also open the heart.

How Now Brown Frau is laugh-out-loud funny and all the more so for being completely true. This is What Merridy Did Next.