Tea & Conversation with bestselling authors Betsy Cornwell and Rhaina Cohen

Betsy will speak with Rhaina Cohen, author of The Other Significant Others, whose work explores the stories and histories of those who hold friendship, rather than romance, as the central relationship in their lives.

Their conversation about creating local and global community across differences and borders—held on Germany's Unity Day—will be followed by a Q&A.

In honor of a treasured tradition from Betsy’s alma mater, Smith College, where for 150 years friends have gathered for Friday afternoon tea to connect at the end of the week, the Goethe-Institut will host this afternoon event with tea and cookies. The team intends to make the event accessible for primary and solo caregivers, as well as others who may be able to attend daytime events more easily.

On her son’s first birthday, Betsy Cornwell fled her home, checking into a hotel under a false name so her husband couldn’t find them. In the uncertain months that followed, her fierce determination to give her child what she never had – a safe and stable home – saved them.
In Ring of Salt, Betsy traces her journey from that desperate moment to Ireland’s windswept west coast, where the Atlantic Ocean crashes against ancient cliffs. There, nestled beside a quiet lake in the wilds of Connemara, she discovers a long-abandoned knitting factory – forgotten, but full of possibility. With support from a circle of women all around the world—her former German homestay sister, a support group of other domestic violence survivors in Ireland, American friends-of-friends who send her encouragement and even money online, and a global network of women’s college alumnae who fundraise on her behalf—she sets out to restore the factory into a sanctuary for herself and her son, and, eventually, into a creative refuge for single mothers.
As she renovates the crumbling house and fights to keep custody of her son, Betsy begins to rebuild something more: a sense of belonging. In the cool mists of the countryside, and with the help of fellow survivors and an unexpected community, she pieces together a new kind of family.
Mixing Maid’s gripping portrait of single motherhood with Under the Tuscan Sun's wild, romantic sense of place, this is a powerful memoir of survival, new beginnings, and the quiet, everyday magic of building community.

This program has been organized in partnership with Solas Nua and Smith College Club of Washington. Treats will be served thanks to the generousity of Greenisland Bakery.

Host or Publisher Goethe-Institut and ICWA