In 1949, a twenty-six-year-old Iowa farm girl named Nita Farrier accepts a position as secretary to the Allied Occupation Force in Vienna, Austria. During her time off, she travels extensively throughout Europe, experiencing and recording in her journals the sights and sounds of Europe s most exciting cities. From the Viennese opera where she observes audience members enjoying wine, sausage, and bread during the performance (all the while the performers shoes are squeaking with every movement) to the homesickness that she felt acutely during holidays abroad, her journals describe her...